


This is Halloween

by Queen (ramble)



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon Compliant, Devil, Fantasy, Finchel - Freeform, Frankenstein - Freeform, Halloween, High School, Klaine, Magic, Minor Original Character(s), Monsters, Multi, Mystery, Season 3, Superheroes, Supernatural Creatures, Vampire Kurt, Werewolf, Witches, Zombie, alien - Freeform, angel - Freeform, mermaid, new directions - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-04-17
Packaged: 2018-05-13 22:03:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5718730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ramble/pseuds/Queen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Magic isn't real. Magic. Isn't. Real. Kurt's fangs are fake, the girls most certainly cannot fly on wings made of wire and feathers, and the annoying 'witches' chasing after the New Directions most definitely aren't casting actual spells.</p><p>But no one is asleep, and no one is on drugs. So what else can explain why none of those facts are true anymore?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Take me Out Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> I know it's a little off-season, but as part of new years I was going back through my list of ideas and half finished stories and this is one that I wanted to break out of the vault and give to you guys.

“I am going to look like a sad hooker clown all over again,” Rachel moaned as she caught Kurt’s eye through the mirror. “And you are putting on way too much eyeliner.” 

“Its supposed to be heavy.” He tilted his head up a little bit as he drew a line along the bottom of his right eye. Yes, he was rather skilled when it came to stage makeup. The problem with that was that almost ubiquitously meant cover-up in the case of boys. He never particularly played with make-up unless it was for a costume and costumes were supposed to be over the top. But Rachel was completely right. He was going for classical sexy, not stripper at a goth club.

“At least you are already pale enough without needing to cake white on your face too. Here.” Rachel dabbed some remover onto a tissue. “Close your eyes, let me do it.” She tried to be gentle. Kurt still snatched away the tissue to wipe the stuff off himself. 

Two hands placed themselves on his back. “Tell me you’ve been practicing with your fangs,” Tina said. 

“Of course!” Kurt said as he held his head higher. “I couldn’t very well sing with some weird lisp now could I?” Rachel grabbed his chin to turn him towards the light. He followed her motions and looked up and down as she commanded. “They feel really weird. How do you do it Tina?”

“I only wear them sometimes. Usually when I want to scare Figgins. It works really well. Not to mention how cool they look. I’ve noticed Artie has a hard time not staring when I wear them.” Kurt felt a devlish grin spreading on his face. “I really should be cross with you for stealing vampire from me.”

“Sorry, but I really wanted to try this. Besides, Dracula is always the leader of the monsters-”

“And Finn and Rachel are the co-leaders of the New Directions, last I checked.”

“But being my brother meant he was more than willing to relent and let me lead this. Especially because of how good this will look for me when I go to New York. And it’s also not technically a New Directions thing. It’s just a group of mostly musically inclined friends getting together and putting on the greatest performance Ohio has ever seen.”

“We’re going to rock this,” Rachel squealed as she leaned back. “There you go.” Kurt glanced to himself in the mirror. “One Bad Boy Kurt Hummel ready to go out and steal hearts.”

“Are you sure you won’t reconsider that date?” Mercedes laughed as she leaned down beside them to look his face over. 

“We have gone to Breadstix a few times, just us, if you want to count that,” he teased. “I don’t think Blaine would particularly appreciate that though, especially because some of those nights were after we started dating.”

“Does he know about Brittany?” Rachel found herself giggling.

“What about...oh! No. I mean I don’t really think about that much so I guess it just hasn’t come up? That really isn’t a big deal anyway. So! Tell me, anyone, what is Blaine wearing tonight?”

“Oh no no, we’re sworn to secrecy,” Mercedes scolded. Kurt rolled his head back and let out a groan. 

“But we do have it on good authority that he is going to be quite hot,” Tina offered.

“Well that much is obvious. I want to know if I need to do anything else though!”

“No no no, don’t you do a thing,” Rachel scolded. “Blaine is going to die when he sees you...What? What are you smirking about!” Kurt started to press his hand over his mouth but Mercedes pulled it away. “Share!”

“Oh I was just thinking how I hope he would die because living forever is going to be awful without him!” It was very bad of him and he knew it. But there was just something so enjoyable about the over the top cheese fest that was the vampire joke he had just made. It had the whole group of them dissolved into laughter at least.

“Hey, can I get some help over here?” Finn called from the other side of the room. He was having some serious wardrobe malfunctions. Kurt bolted to the rescue. These costumes had to be both decently accurate and yet fit for dancing. They’d all thought Rachel’s would be the hardest to pull off - why she had chosen mermaid knowing she was going to need to dance was beyond everyone - but she was actually managing it just fine. Wearing a shimmery skirt over leggings was doing a decent job for her. Finn, on the other hand, was the one who was doing a good job of making his should-have-been-sensible costume into a disaster.

“Ok, forgo the bolts Frankie,” Santana scolded as he rubbed off more of his make up trying to re-attach them. “We’ll just paint them on.”

“Hey,” Mercedes offered as she settled beside Rachel in the newly vacated seat. Tina vanished over to help her boyfriend out. She’d turned up in full makeup and costume already prepared so she could offer her services to anyone else who needed help. Her wings were settled against the wall until they had to leave. “I found something online that might help you out.” She turned around her phone to reveal a picture of a person with a net over their face.

“Thank you but I’m not going for the dead mermaid look,” Rachel offered back. As happy as she was that everyone was back together in one big group, she was still a little unsure about how her relationship with Mercedes in particular was situated. They had been double cast due to their talents but the problem did lie in how she was always given leads and solos. Rachel, of course, was never going to ask for fewer of those but she knew Mercedes wanted more spotlight time. Even if she was guaranteed it with the Troubletones now.

“I know. It’s for painting on your make up. So you don’t look like a new version of the sad clown hooker.” Rachel crinkled up her nose. “This is a tutorial that’ll walk you through your transformation to mermaid-dom.” She held up a net that she’d procured. “I can help you if you’d like.”

“Thank you for doing this with us.”

“We’re a team, right?” Mercedes paused for a moment. “I can’t say I’m sorry, because I’m not.”

“You shouldn’t have to. You have a beautiful voice Mercedes. You and Santana both. Honestly I love hearing you sing. I just like being center stage too.”

“I can’t blame you for that.”

“Kurt’s setlist for this is brilliant for this.” She glanced around the room. All of their singers and dancers were featured at some point and in very beautiful ways. He didn’t want anyone to feel left out or start a fight because they didn’t get their time to shine. Even she couldn’t complain about it. Not that she had room to anyway after all the people she’d hurt this year.

“We really need more good Halloween songs.” Mercedes turned Rachel’s head back so she could continue with the intricate scales she was painting on. “Hold still.”

“I think of absolutely everything we’ve done since the New Directions was founded, this is my favorite. Except New York, even though we lost. Nothing will ever be better than New York.”

“How elite are these people again?”

“They donate regularly to Dalton,” Blaine said as he joined them. “Lots of money too. We are so lucky, normally they have the Warblers perform. How did you even manage to secure this?”

“Ask Kurt! He’s the top notch schmoozer around here.”

“The hosts did seem to like him last year. He does always stand out. Even when he’s trying not to.”

“I think that’s when he stands out the most.”

“...You’re right.” 

“Oooooo-boy has Kurt seen you yet!” Mercedes whistled when she finally glanced up from her art.

“Uhm, I don’t think so.” He glanced over to where his boyfriend was entirely engrossed in saving their Frankenstein monster. The teen had pins in his mouth as he made some last minute sewing edits for Finn’s sake. Kurt was brilliant with fashion even in a pinch. Blaine couldn’t help but think the world of costumes was missing out on something brilliant right about now. But Kurt was and always would be an out in the open center stage sort of man. The world would just have to keep muddling through without that part of his talents. Unless he found a way to just do it all. Which was entirely possible.

“I think those are tighter than your usual pants. They aren’t squeezing too much are they? I don’t think Kurt would forgive us if we damaged you.” Blaine waved his hands as he laughed her comment off.

“It’s just the leather. Leather always looks tighter than everything else.”

“Real leather?” Rachel gasped.

“No. I don’t even want to imagine trying to make this out of real leather. But it does look real doesn’t it?”

“Completely. How did you find the right material without our fashionista?””

“Tina. She’s really amazing with this sort of thing.” She was also one of the New Directions who had no trouble accepting him into the fold. And hanging out with him in classes - as a friend. She’d accepted him like he’d always been there. So asking her to spend a lot of time crafting this costume with him had been a no-brainer. “Do you think he’ll like it? I told him it’d be a surprise and I know he’s not into comics, but at the same time who doesn’t like-”

“The reference may be a little lost but you do look hot so I really don’t think he’ll care.”

“Hot is half the reason why I picked this one.”

“What’s the other half?”

“It kind of goes with Kurt’s dark theme. And bats too really. And he’s kind of my main hero right now. He doesn’t have any powers you know? And he still manages to solve all these problems and save the day.”

“No. Way.” All three turned their heads. Sam was grinning ear to ear as he jogged over. “Look at us!”

“Yes?” Blaine responded warily. After how he’d reacted to Sam - admittedly out of anger towards Finn - he was constantly a bit worried that the teen would hate him. He had basically accused him of being a prostitute. Granted he hadn’t had a clue what Sam had been going through then and it had just been a comment made out of a lack of comfort of being so extremely, nakedly sexual in front of an audience that included more people than Kurt, that didn’t excuse his behavior. He hadn’t expected Sam to forgive him for it. Maybe ever. But there Sam was, staring right at him with a giant goofy grin on his face as though it had never even happened. In fact by the time Sectionals had rolled around it had already seemed like Sam didn’t care about that at all, though they hadn’t really talked since that conversation so Blaine couldn’t be sure.

“You’re Batman!”

“And you’re Superman.”

“They’re like, best friends. Well, at least half the time. And they lead the Justice League, so that means we’re a team tonight.” Blaine felt a smile crack on his face. A team. Sam puffed up his chest and held his fist in the air. “We need to take pictures. We need. Pictures. Hey hey! Quinn, help us out, please?” The blonde stared at the pair for a moment before attempting to comply. It was just easier to get it over with rather than argue. She had to fix her wings. After seeing Mercedes’ outfit she’d decided to make her wings look a little bit less well-kept. Fallen angels weren’t supposed to be perfect anyway.

“So what do we do, as a team?”

“We...protect people. And keep an eye out for crime and mystery. As the two superheroes here tonight we have to keep all our friends safe.” Blaine rested a hand on his hip as Sam puffed up even more.

“I can do that.” 

“And just what are you two protecting us from?” Puck quipped as he paused in front of the mirror. Originally he wasn’t going to put much work into this. Just toss on some tattered clothes and say he was a transformed-back-to-human werewolf. Then a couple of the girls had gotten their hands on him. He looked ferocious so everything was still right with the world. Despite how much makeup he had on his face. It was the awesome kind of makeup, like when they dressed up as Kiss.

“Maybe we’re protecting everyone from you.” Blaine shifted his weight and hoped that was taken for the joke it was supposed to be. The seniors were another sticking point for him. For the most part they seemed alright with his presence - as Kurt’s boyfriend and the guy Kurt managed to drag out of Dalton to join the New Directions in their time of need. Aside from Tina and, apparently, Sam, he felt like he was always Kurt’s something. Not just Blaine. He loved Kurt but he needed the people here to accept him for himself. He didn’t want to be the outsider.

“I’m twice your size.” Puck glanced Blaine over. Particularly the arm muscles. Blaine gave them a little flex. “Hmph.” Mercedes was right - everything about his body seemed to look bigger underneath the leather.

“Ok, I think we’ve successfully avoided a Franken-tastrophie,” Kurt announced as he pulled Finn over. “Is everyone here now? …I can’t even tell.” 

“I think everyone’s here,” Blaine offered. Kurt nearly jumped out of his skin. “At least I count the right amount of people.”

“Blaine?”

“I know I have a mask on but you really couldn’t tell?” Kurt pulled the mask up, but his eyes busied themselves with devouring every other inch of his boyfriend. “I think I’m the only person besides Rachel who’s this short.”

“You’re taller than most of the girls,” Tina declared.

“But you definitely are the shortest boy,” Rachel offered as Mercedes put the finishing touches on her face. “Oh thank you Mercedes this looks amazing! Wow!” She turned to try and get some approval from Kurt but he didn’t respond. He was still preoccupied with other costumes.

“You look amazing Rachel,” Finn told her. She sat up a little taller at the ego stroking. Santana rolled her eyes and looked about to say something when Mercedes cut her off.

“I think we all look fantastic. I mean, wow, Mike! Who did that for you?”

“Tina,” he replied.

“I think he’s the most convincing skeleton I’ve ever seen,” Tina bragged.

“I wouldn’t want to run into him in a dark room that’s for sure,” Artie complimented her as he fixed some of the extra alien legs he’d given himself.

“Question!” Santana interjected. “I thought everyone had to be something different.”

“Correct, that’s what we agreed on.”

“So why are Quinn and Tina both black winged things?”

“I’m a dark fairy,” Tina stated.

“And I’m a fallen angel,” Quinn echoed.

“You look the same,” Santana retorted.

“I have a wand,” Tina said as she held the black and purple stick up in the air. “And Quinn has a broken halo.”

“Ok, fine, whatever. I’ll buy it.”

“Wait wait, wait,” Sam waved his arms between them. “We still haven’t gotten our pictures.” He pushed Blaine out of the crowd and struck a typical Superman pose. Blaine pulled his mask back down as he tried to figure out where to put his own arms. He tried hips and he tried crossing them but neither felt right. Batman didn’t have any well-known poses. Sam gave him a nudge. “Fighting stance?”

“Oh! Good call.”

“Wow,” Santana let out. “Does it get any dorkier than that?”

“Not really,” Kurt whispered back to her. He was finally starting to regain himself now that he’d fully taken everything in. Now he was processing it.

“Hey, that’s your boyfriend in that batsuit.”

“And he’s hot in it. I never said I didn’t like his dorkiness.” Several shots later had a very satisfied Sam and a very bashful Blaine returning to the crowd. Kurt linked his arm with the hero that was his boyfriend. “Ok, we have to get a move on or we’re going to be late.”

“Hey, hey I’m gonna ride with you guys,” Sam decided, following after Kurt as he pulled Blaine off to his Navigator. It only took a few minutes for his boyfriend and his boyfriend’s newly budding best friend to dissolve all talk to the all-comic-books-all-the-time station. The young man sent a very desperate look to his brother. Finn only offered him a cheerful wave as he opened his passenger side door for Rachel. He turned his eyes to her. She blew him a kiss. Rachel had no intentions of giving up Finn time just to rescue Kurt from his own boyfriend’s revelry.

“Ok, now that you’re a real leprechaun, can I ask for a different third wish?” Brittany’s voice lifted over them.

“Uhm, I’m sorry?” Rory responded. Her hand was resting on his shoulder and his back instantly became ramrod straight. Despite his attractions, or perhaps because of them, he was just as patient as always. 

“You’re a leprechaun tonight.”

“For Halloween.”

“Well obviously. Halloween is a magical night where everyone can become what they dress up as. That’s why I’m a rat tonight. They’re little and people always underestimate them and think that they aren’t that special but they’re actually really, really clever. And since you’re a leprechaun that means you can make wishes come true tonight.”

“Well, just one, and just for you, no one else. Granting wishes is a lot harder than people think it is.” Brittany smiled and started to speak when Santana interrupted them.

“Get in you two.” Santana held her passenger door open for Brittany. Rory aimed for the back seat. “Watch my tail Lucky.”

“Yes ma’am,” Rory returned as he slid into the car. Santana turned her pitchfork and gave him a light stabbing to remind him to mind his place. He was only a temporary student. In a few months he’d be back in Ireland living at the end of his treasure-less rainbow and she’d still be here. With Brittany.

“Where’s Sugar?” Santana called as she looked around. Everyone had been invited, talent or not. At least Sugar had been improving. Kurt had let her have some speaking lines. Since it was hard to be off key for those and she’d wanted some time in the spotlight but everyone knew she just could not sing. They were trying to be fair tonight and fair meant anyone who wanted some spotlight time got a little bit of it.

“I’ve got her!” Mercedes called as she pulled the girl towards her car. She was still fussing with her make up. 

“You look fine!” Kurt called out as she passed. Sugar paused to look him over.

“Of course I look fine,” she stated. “I’m the best looking person in this whole group. Not that you can appreciate it. But my whisker was crooked.”

“It looks straight now.”

“You can trust him,” Mercedes told her. “Kurt would never steer you wrong in regards to how you look.” Sugar paused to regard him again before shrugging and letting Mercedes push her into the car after Rory before joining them herself. 

Kurt shook his head as he sunk into his driver’s seat. He turned to talk to Blaine about their plans for the upcoming Saturday. However Blaine was completely lost in talk with Sam about some obscure comic book thing he’d never heard of. He turned the radio on. This this was going to be the longest short drive of his life.


	2. I Put a Spell on You

“No,” Artie gasped as Finn helped him into his chair. And Rachel, Mercedes, Tina, and Rory all helped keep his costume from destruction. “This can’t be right. Hey! Hey Blaine! Are you sure this is the right place?”

“Yeah, this is it,” Blaine said as he popped out of the car. Sam followed him quickly and puppied after him as they joined the growing group of musical teenagers. Kurt circumvented the whole mess to go stand next to Rachel, hands shoved in his pockets and mouth pressed into a thin line. Sam gave his new best friend a playful shove. Blaine reciprocated the motion. “These decorations are even better than last year!”

“It looks like a real haunted house,” Quinn mused.

“Do you think we’ll get to do this again?” Sam asked. “I’m thinking next year maybe we can get together and come as a superhero team.”

“I’m in,” Tina said.

“Me too!” Artie joined.

“Perfect!” Blaine thrust a fist into the air as the four of them grouped together to make a proper plan.

“Not to be a spoil sport but we need to get in there and blow them away _this_ year if you juniors are going to be invited back,” Kurt chastised as he linked his arm through Rachel’s and pulled her forth. Finn stalked along behind them as he tilted his head in to whisper with her. “Does Finn do this?”

“Do what?”

“...Talk about comic books, video games, all that...that uhm…”

“Boy stuff?”

“...For lack of a better word yes, let’s go with that. Straight boy stuff.”

“Hasn’t Blaine always been into those things?”

“Yeah but it never really got in the way of anything before. The entire ride here it was like I didn’t even exist! I was looking forward to talking about our date Saturday and did you see what he’s wearing it would be awesome to actually be able to appreciate that a little bit, but no. All he could talk about was super powers this, guns that. It’s weird Rachel.” She patted his hand.

“He didn’t talk about that kind of stuff with the Warblers?”

“Well when we were at school we were always talking about music or classes, and after school we were always hanging out just us.”

“You never did any big group thing with any of the boys?”

“Sort of? We had a party once. It was more like hanging out in the choir room with you guys though. Only we were all boys and all wearing the same thing. Some of the guys did talk about girls but there wasn’t anything I couldn’t keep up with. This is completely different. This is like...liking hanging out with my dad when his friends are visiting. Sometimes they’ll mention something about cars and I can go ‘hey I know this one!’ but for the most part they’re speaking a completely foreign language.”

“I have to admit, I don’t hang out with Finn and ‘the guys’ as a group. I don’t have to. After football games we’re often in a large enough group with some other people I know and can talk to or we’ll go hang out by ourselves, or we’re being a big group in Glee, but I never have to fit in with the football guys. I never have to be one of the guys. Probably because I’m not a guy.”

“So this is a gay thing.”

“Maybe.” Kurt hung his head a bit. Finn pushed between them.

“Look, bro,” He started.

“Finn! You shouldn’t listen in.”

“I was right behind you. You were whispering pretty loudly.” He rested his hand on Kurt’s shoulder. “There’s going to be things you both like and things you each like separately...though from what I’ve seen Blaine seems to like pretty much everything, but I’m sure there’s some things he’s less passionate about that you’re more interested in.”

“He fits in perfectly with the guys _and_ the girls,” Kurt moaned.

“He can’t keep up when we gossip,” Rachel offered him. “At least, not like you. Sure he has a good politician face but you’re the one who would be good at a professional party. Like this one.”

“That doesn’t help my problem.”

“It isn’t a problem,” Finn insisted. “He’s just making friends. Just like you have Rachel and Mercedes, and me too really. He’s making friends with other people who are into the same things he’s into. That you’re not, and there’s nothing wrong with that. He needs to have other friends too. Its why I can’t hang out with Rachel all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I love you Rachel, but sometimes I do like to hang out and play some Call of Duty. And you don’t.”

“And when he does that we hang out,” Rachel told Kurt as she reached over to take his arm again.

“I was still looking forward to spending tonight with him,” their friend sighed.

“You’ll have time,” Finn assured him. “I’ll distract the guys, and Rachel can keep Tina busy, that way you two can dance or something. But...this is a good thing, Kurt. I promise. When you graduate he’s going to need these guys like you need us. And, I mean, from what I know of him, he likes to do guy things too.

“I’m a guy.” He knew who he was. He loved who he was. He’d been over this time and time again over the last several years of his life. Ever since he’d first become aware that he didn’t quite fit in. Which was early, but in first grade it wasn’t nearly such a big deal that he fit in better with the girls. He did want to hang out with the guys sometimes but they just never seemed to click together. He simply didn’t like ‘guy things.’ Except cars.

“I’m not saying you’re not but there’s a lot of typical guy things that you don’t like but he does. You can’t just make him give all that up and just spend time with you. That would kind of suck, a lot.” Kurt tried not to look too dejected. Finn was right. Completely right. It still sucked.

“Are you three going to go in or just stand there?” Santana chided as she tapped her foot.

“Oh, wait, normally there’s some kind of trick at the front door,” Blaine told them. “Kurt, remember last year?”

“They had a mummy pop up,” he said with a little smile at the memory. The other Warblers had conveniently forgotten to warn him about that. Blaine had dreamily wrapped an arm around him in comfort. Probably because he’d leapt right into Blaine’s arms. All in all it had been a good moment despite the complete disgrace that had taken weeks to live down.

“It looked real.” Blaine hopped up on the front step and looked around. There were very convincing fake spiderwebs draped everywhere.

“Eek ew!” Sugar let out as she jumped at Blaine. Kurt tried not to frown as he caught her just like he’d caught Kurt the year before. At least Blaine was passing her off very quickly. He’d kept his arm around Kurt until the front door opened. Then of course they’d separated themselves because even if neither of them had ever had a boyfriend before, they both knew that people were going to stare at two boys being so comfy cozy with each other. Mercedes gave her a hug and rubbed her back. “There’s real spiders in there.”

“She’s right,” Artie confirmed as he peered into the netting. “A couple of them. Looks like even the spiders are convinced this is real.”

“But where’s the surprise?” Blaine whispered as he looked around, poking at things.

“Enough of this!” Santana burst. She stepped up to the door and pulled on the rope that was situated in place of a doorbell. “This place was built just for Halloween parties wasn’t it?” As the rope descended, so did something else. Everyone jumped as dozens of tiny - and thankfully fake - spiders descended on their heads from above.

“Brilliant!” Sam cheered as he swatted at a few. “Blaine check this one out, it has an hourglass on its back.”

“Awesome!” the dark haired teen hopped over beside the blonde. “I think this one’s my favorite. Wes was talking about how one year they had skeletons come up out of graves but this is even better.”

“Actual skeletons?” Puck asked.

“Well, they looked real enough. They were probably fake though.”

“Probably?”

“Puck!” Quinn cooed. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of skeletons.”

“No! But I mean, if there was a real skeleton just, like, dancing around on someone’s yard? That’s just gross.” The door opened. The spiders started to retract.

“Ah! Hello, hello!” the well dressed man at the door greeted. “Are you the New Directions then?”

“That’s us!” Kurt announced as he stepped to the front. “All dressed up and ready to perform as promised.”

“Tell me, how did my trap work?”

“If your goal was to rip peoples’ hair out, perfectly,” Santana stated as she and Brittany worked quickly to disentangle her hair. Finn gave her a pointed nudge. “What? I’m just telling the truth.”

“Hm, I’ll reset them an inch higher.” Everyone started straining to see the rest of his decorations. “I hope you enjoy yourselves tonight. Halloween is the most important holiday to me. It’s the only time of year when all of my friends can come out and really have a good time. So I do tend to go all out.”

“That sounds like a good reason for a party to me,” Puck agreed.

“Alright, I don’t think I have any guests as tall as your friend here so this should be alright. Come in, come in, you’re early. Would you like any snacks before you perform, or do you need some assistance setting up?”

“We’ll be fine, thank you Mr. Buckland,” Rachel replied on everyone’s behalf. They had costumes to maintain. They could all head out to dinner to satisfy their snacking needs later. The fifteen teenagers filed into the front hall. Puck let out a whistle.

“Impressed?”

“Yes,” he stated honestly.

“Alright, the main party will be just this way in the ballroom.”

“Ballroom!” Artie echoed.

“It’s great, just wait till you see it,” Blaine was telling them. “It looks like it came straight out of a movie. You know, all those fancy parties they have, that’s this.” Mr. Buckland propped open the doors.

“You’re welcome to make whatever use of this room you desire. Only this room and the foyer will be used for the party, all the food and drinks will be brought in by the servers, and your friends here can show you where the two bathrooms that I allow to be used for this party are. If you require use of any extra space beyond this then please come and ask me and I’ll see what I can do.” Blaine had already made his way over to the stage and hopped up on it. Kurt followed after him at a slightly slower pace. He offered his hand down to his boyfriend to help him up.

“This is familiar,” Kurt whispered, standing right where he had stood with the Warblers last year, glancing out towards the empty room.

“But different.” Blaine squeezed his hand, holding it close to his heart for just a moment before letting Kurt go.

“No one is to go past any of the archways outside of these doors here and as for the other hallways you are not to go farther than the bathrooms. I hate to be strict but I’ve had some, well, trouble in the past. Not in recent years, mind you, but a while ago some of the boys with the Dalton group got a little adventurous. It was almost disastrous and, well, to be honest it wasn’t very polite of them either. This is my private residence and I would like to keep it that way. Aside from the parts I do open up to the public. Curiosity can be a thing of beauty, but it is best not to kill the cat. Especially when one of you _is_ a cat tonight.” Sugar wasn’t as amused as Mr. Buckland at the joke. “Do you all understand?”

“Absolutely!” Rachel announced for them.

“Good, now, I must go check on how the hors d'oeuvres are coming along.” As soon as he left Rachel rushed up to the stage.

“Blaine, what was he talking about,” she demanded.

“I really have no idea,” the junior replied.

“How can you not! That didn’t sound like something that wouldn’t get passed on.”

“I mean, I know we’ve always been very heavily warned not to wander off, but he’s right. It is really disrespectful to go poking around people’s private houses without permission. If you really want to know I’m sure you could ask him. He’s a pretty nice guy.”

Setup was fairly quick. All the equipment was provided by Mr. Buckland - fog machines, laser lights; it was a poor glee club’s dream come true. After a time, their host returned, making sure to take some time to talk to each student individually.

“What was that about?” Mercedes whispered to Tina as Mr. Buckland let her go and moved on to talk to Rory. Quinn hurried over as well. She was watching their host, paying attention to his choices. He’d talked to Kurt first, then Santana. Now Tina, and Rory.

“He wanted to make sure I knew to be careful around his guests,” she said, completely confused. “Hey, hey Blaine!” The boy quickly rerouted to talk to them. “Are his guests...weird?”

“Not particularly?” Blaine replied. “They were a little obsessed with Halloween, monsters and the like, but I can’t particularly blame anyone for having that on their mind in a place like this on a night like tonight.” Quinn slipped away from the three of them as Mr. Buckland moved on to Finn and Puck. The way he was picking out specific people had her worried - there seemed to be a specific pattern to it, with how he stepped back and looked them all over before approaching the next person, regardless of what they were working on.

“What was he talking to you about?” she whispered after he’d moved on.

“Being careful of the guests, mindful that they’re sensitive, stuff like that,” Finn told her. She crossed her arms and looked around them. “Is something wrong?”

“I don’t know. It’s just weird. I thought he might be trying to warn people that some of his guests might get a little inappropriate, that kind of careful. But why wouldn’t he talk to Rachel? She’s one of the smaller girls, just like Tina. Then with you and Mr. Juvie Hall over there, maybe he thinks you’ll insult someone. But you’ve both been on your best behavior. But why would he be talking to Kurt, especially if he knows Kurt?”

“Did you ask Kurt what they talked about?” Puck said.

“...can you do me a favor and do that? Find out what he said to everyone.” She watched as Mr. Buckland left the room. “Kurt, Santana, Tina, Rory, you two, and Mike. And he told Tina and both of you to be careful around his guests.”

“I think you’re making a big deal out of nothing.”

“I think he’s hiding something.”

“We’ll talk to them,” Finn said, holding his hands between them. “I’m sure Kurt or Blaine could explain it though. So I’ll go talk to them, Puck you talk to Mike, Rory, and Santana, and Quinn, why don’t you just go talk to Mr. Buckland himself?”

“Actually I think I’ll do that.” She looked out the door and found he was pacing around, checking his watch, waiting on someone. Before she could take even one step though there was a ring at the doorbell. The host evaded her as he went about greeting his first guests. Two ladies and a man with what appeared to be windblown hair, all carrying umbrellas despite the weather being impeccable. Other than that they were in the finest of clothes. Mr. Buckland directed them upstairs. Quinn noticed a package as they made their way up.

“It’s not nice to spy,” his voice caused her to jump. She’d been watching his new arrivals, not paying any attention to where he was.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to interrupt you.” He looked right into her eyes for a moment, then put a smile on his face.

“What can I help you with my dear?”

“Oh, I was just talking to Finn and Puck, and I was wondering what you meant by be careful of the guests.”

“What I mean by it is that they won’t harm you as long as you don’t upset them.” Quinn didn’t know if that was supposed to be a joke that warranted a chuckle. He offered her a smile all the same. “They can be really sensitive. One bad joke could result in a catastrophe. Especially some of the witches I invited.”

“Witches?”

“Ah, yes. Be extra careful of the witches. Tonight the others can’t do much more than make a fuss but the witches...don’t upset them. Just because the magic leaves them tonight doesn’t mean it leaves their talismans.”

“I’m sorry I really don’t follow you.”

“Just be careful. Though I’m sure you have nothing to worry about. You should get back to your friends. The other guests will be arriving shortly. I’ll have someone let you know when I’m about to let them into the ballroom.”

“Thank you.” She returned to find everyone gathered on the stage.

“So what did he say?” Sam asked. Everyone was already caught up on her concerns.

“That we need to be extra careful of witches because they have magical talismans.”

“So this is all a joke?” Rachel asked.

“If it is, our generous host doesn’t seem to see it that way. He was quite serious. He said no one will hurt us so long as we don’t upset anyone because even though no one has magic tonight the witches still have magical talismans they can use.”

“That’s what he said when you asked him why we needed to be careful.”

“Pretty much.” Puck was the first one to laugh. Kurt almost fell against the bigger teen as his own laughter started escaping. Soon every single New Directions member was curled over in a fit of giggles.

“He has a really interesting sense of humor,” Blaine managed to get out. “Last year he told us to-”

“Keep our heads down if we ran into any bats!” Kurt finished. Quinn sat on the edge of the stage with a smile on her own face. It did seem really silly, now that everyone was laughing. There was a feeling deep inside her gut though. Something didn’t feel quite right here. Mr. Buckland’s tone hadn’t been a joking one. It seemed like he was really worried about them.

“Seriously though, that’s what he said?” Puck echoed.

“Yes!” Quinn re-iterated.

“Ok, ok guys,” Kurt tried as he finally got a grip on himself. “He did say we had to be tasteful when he agreed to let us do costumes. I think we did a good job of that, for the most part.” His eyes passed briefly over Blaine’s pants and right over to Sugar’s everything.

“What’s wrong with my costume!” she huffed.

“Adult cat costumes aren’t known for being appropriate. Just be careful.”

“That goes double for Blaine Warbler over there,” Santana pressed. “I swear if you two get too close I’ll make sure to set the sprinkler systems off or something to cool you down before the whole room combusts.” Kurt caught the impish grin on Blaine’s face.

“We’re all going to behave tonight. All of us.”

“Why do I get the feeling that was directed at me,” Rachel whispered loudly to Mercedes.

“You, and Santana and Brittany, and even myself and Blaine. We’re all going to be good. Agreed? No matter how hard it is.”

“What exactly is going to be hard tonight?” Santana commented, making sure to tilt her head so everyone knew just what (and who) she was referring to. Kurt’s cheeks heated up as the girls and half the boys started to boil with laughter.

“You walked into that,” Puck gave him a shove.

“I know. Don’t we have to practice or something.”

“Finn, Mercedes, we need to go over some of the moves again,” Mike called. Blaine edged over to Kurt and pulled his mask up.

“We’re still going to your place after this is over, right?” Kurt felt his back tense up.

“Uh-huh. Now please don’t bring that up again until we’re there ok? I don’t think I can handle it and neither of us are dressed to think about that.” He smiled as Blaine pressed a kiss to his cheek. “You’re going to steal the show tonight.”

“I’m sure the ladies are going to love this. But you’re the only person I’m trying to impress tonight.”

“You already do that every single day. You’re not worried about the boys in the audience?”

“Even if anyone is interested, I’m not.” Blaine’s hand trailed over Kurt’s shoulder. He definitely appreciated how Kurt looked tonight. No puns intended, this was going to be horribly difficult to keep his hands entirely to himself until this event was over.

“Klaine!” someone yelled at them. “I mean...yeah lets go with that.” The repeatedly ringing doorbell was their signal. The show was about to begin. Everyone ran for their places. Artie flipped the switch to start the music. The instrumental Frankenstein song started them off, greeting the guests as the doors pushed open. The fog machines coated every corner in mists.

Tonight was going to be a show no one would ever forget.


	3. They Did the Monster Mash

Puck was quite enjoying being the central figure of the song that marked the halfway point of the performance. For the most part he only had one role - howling. But he was quite good at it. “Awooo!” he let out as the other boys moved around him. He was completely into it, rolling his head back and stretching up on his toes.

“Werewolves of London,” they all sang around him.

“Awoo!” Sam slid in front of Puck from the left side. The superheroes had made some very last minute edits, clearly, because Blaine mirrored him from the other side. The guests definitely enjoyed their decision, from casual superhero viewers to the all out nerds. Though it was mostly the girls enjoying their eye candy it seemed.

“He's the hairy, hairy gent, who ran amok in Kent,” Sam sang. “Lately he's been overheard in Mayfair.”

“You better stay away from him,” Blaine echoed as he danced over between Artie and Kurt.

“He'll rip your lungs out Jim,” Artie sang as he rolled around so that he was in the middle.

“Huh, I'd like to meet his tailor!” Blaine jerked his thumb playfully towards Kurt. All the boys except Puck froze to sing the chorus. He pushed himself back to the front so he could be right in the center. His instructions for the choreography were basically just to ‘hog the stage’ after all.

“Aaahoo! Werewolves of London  
Aaahoo!  
Aaahoo! Werewolves of London  
Aaahoo!”

Puck puffed his chest up. Despite the fuss he’d put up two years ago, despite what glee had done to his reputation, Puck was having a good time. Somehow that silly stuff didn’t really matter when he was here performing with his friends. These were real friends that cared about his well being and people he could just be himself around. So he let loose when he was singing his verse.

“Well, I saw Lon Chaney walkin' with the queen,  
Doin' the werewolves of London.  
I saw Lon Chaney Jr. walkin' with the queen,  
Doin' the werewolves of London.  
I saw a werewolf drinkin' a pina colada at Trader Vic's-”

“And his hair was perfect!” Kurt and Artie sang together. Puck pointed towards them as he let his howl out.

“Werewolves of London!  
Draw blood,  
Aaahoo! Werewolves of London!”

They all froze in their final spot as Rachel skipped to the front center of the stage. She kept her hands folded politely as the crowd cheered - and called out their overwhelming approval of the super-duo show stealers - and waited until they started to calm down. “Thank you, thank you, and especially thank you Mr. Buckland for inviting us to perform tonight. Now it’s intermission for us but the system is set up if anyone wants to sing while we’re freshening up. We’ll be back for the second half of the party in thirty minutes.” It was a five hour party. Despite cycling who was performing it was still exhausting. So they’d all struck a deal to get a thirty minute intermission right at the center.

Mr. Buckland had especially enjoyed the karaoke option.

“Everyone set your phones,” Kurtt ordered, “and if anyone is late-” Tina and Artie were already heading for the dance floor. Sugar was following them.

“You’ll sick your puppy on us, we know,” Santana jabbed, even offering Blaine a playful little shove before she started to disappear into the crowd with Brittany in tow, but Brittany grabbed onto Rory. The blonde was still trying to figure out what her wish should be tonight and she was not going to miss out on this opportunity. Quinn glanced around before casually mentioning that she was going to step outside for some fresh air and vanishing through the ballroom doors.

Kurt turned to ask Blaine to slip out with him for a moment as well, but Sam was faster. He scooped up his new friend and dragged him off to a crowd of adoring (female) fans. They were swamped with girls who were reaching out to touch their biceps and crooning over ‘the details’ of the costumes. Kurt knew what they meant. They meant the tight chests and the tight pants. He couldn’t deny his jealousy. It wasn’t fair. Blaine was supposed to be beside _him_.

“You look like you could use some cheesecake,” Rachel offered as she linked her arm around his, holding up a plate with two plastic forks.

“Yes, thank you.”

“We are going to be amazing New York companions.”

“Oh yes, you’re going to make me fat because every time I frown you’ll bring me cheesecake. Perfect.”

“And every time I’m down I’m sure you’ll bring me a whole tub of ice cream. So we’ll be even.”

“True, fair enough. If we get in.”

“Even if we don’t! We’re still going to New York one way or another, agreed?”

“Agreed.” He licked his tongue over the fangs in his mouth. He was starting to forget they were there. Though the eating part wasn’t something he’d dealt with. He reached up and pulled them out, wrapping them in one of Rachel’s napkins and slipping them into his pocket before taking a nibble.

“I’m quite enjoying your performance,” a very British and very male voice came from over his shoulder.

“Oh, thank you. We really just put this together last minute. But that seems to be our forte.”

“I wasn’t referring to the whole group, though I suppose your friends are doing wonderful as well. But what I meant was that you in particular are quite the star of the evening.” Kurt tried not to look as dumbfounded as he felt. He pulled himself together enough to speak.

“Well, that’s what I do. I pull focus. Can’t help myself.” Rachel peered over at their new companion. She elbowed Kurt in the side. That boy was leaning closer than she felt comfortable with. Kurt just swatted back at her.

“I would pay good money to see you perform on a real stage.”

“If you can, you could come to the show choir regionals performance. We’re going to win it this year.”

“Is that so?” The boy leaned in a little closer. Kurt couldn’t help but smile wider. He wasn’t particularly used to this particular sort of attention. And he did so love being at the center of it.

“Oh yeah, and you’ll probably get to see another of our famous last minute set lists too. We’re always at our best when we’re being spontaneous.”

“I don’t suppose you’d like to dance with me?”

“What?”

“You said you were at your best when you’re spontaneous. So, I’m being spontaneous.” A hand was offered up to him. Kurt felt his cheeks flush.

“Yes, yes we are but uhm, I have a boyfriend. The one in the batman suit, that’s mine. I’m sorry.” The pale boy frowned. “You seem really nice, but we’re in a really serious relationship. I’d love to be your friend though.”

“As nice as that sounds, I’m not here tonight to find friends. I wish you and your boyfriend the best.” The hand turned over to brush ever so lightly over Kurt’s shoulder before the boy bowed and vanished into the crowds again.

“Kurt!” Rachel hissed. “You were flirting with him.”

“I was not! I was being nice.”

“You invited him to see our next performance.” That gave him pause. He had certainly done that. It wasn’t out of attraction though. Though that boy had been hot enough to be on the cover of a certain type of magazine.

“I love Blaine, I would never cheat on him.”

“Then why did you do that?”

“He seemed genuinely interested? Come on Rachel you can’t tell me you wouldn’t try to encourage your fans to follow you.”

“That wasn’t all it was.”

“Yes it was! Come on, why don’t you and I dance, hm? Come on, come on, let’s go.” He pulled Rachel to the floor before she could argue any more. He didn’t notice how the pale boy kept stealing glances towards him. Rachel did. She made certain to put herself between them.

“Tooth care is the absolute most important thing for a wolf,” a girl nearby was saying. “Once you get a cavity, it gets nasty. Serious. You don’t want to go there.” Puck approached. There were four of them, all wearing quite revealing dresses. Sure he’d been interested in older women. That was for a relationship. And for his daughter. This was different. This was just some harmless flirting and heartbreaking.

“Awoo rawr!” he let out behind them. The girl turned around and slapped him square in the face.

“I thought that was you!” The other girls crossed their arms.

“Woah, woah I didn’t mean harm. Ladies! It was just a joke! I swear it. I wasn’t, you know, implying anything, I promise.”

“Its bad enough you’re making a joke out of lycanthropy on stage - that’s a song related to this holiday, you’re performers, I can forgive that, but to make fun of us to our faces! You really have no shame. You’re disgusting.”

“I don’t even know what lycanharpy is.” The girl huffed and stomped past him. Her friends followed quickly after her. “Can you at least tell me what it is!”

“Open a dictionary Lunkhead!” Puck stood dumbfounded. Mercedes found him lost there and pushed him off to the side.

“I don’t even know what I did!”

“As much as I want to tell you it’s your own fault, this is a weird crowd,” she told him. “I suggest keeping your head down. These people...they seem to take this holiday very seriously.”

Santana tried to slip Brittany away from her puppydog follower but it seemed entirely useless. Mostly because of Brittany. The girl was attached to Rory and talking about all her best theories with him. Right now she was on to her idea that all the leprechauns in Ireland were having a great big party and she really wanted to see it but she much preferred being here with Santana. That warmed the girl’s heart a little. Just a little. She still wanted to throw Rory out a window.

There was something that was irritating her more at the moment though. There was an old man in a long beard and a shamrock green suit who was following them around. She ducked around behind the other two and kept pushing them along. When he still kept on her heels she turned around and crossed her arms to confront him.

“Ah hello there lassie,” he whistled out. Of course he was Irish.

“Why are you following me.”

“Following? I’m not-”

“Don’t play dumb I’ve been leading you around this ballroom for ten minutes. Why are you following me.”

“I want to talk to that lad that’s with y’.”

“You can have him.” Santana grabbed Rory and pushed him towards the man. “I found your grandpa.”

“This isn’t my grandfather,” Rory said. He hadn’t realized yet what she was up to.

“Ah, so y’are from the green isle,” the old man said jovially. “‘s been a long time since I been home.” Rory’s eyes lit up in an instant. Even if they weren’t related, this man was from his homeland. It was a little bit of comfort, someone to talk to about familiar things with. Santana stood up proudly as the old man started chatting about the olden days. Rory didn’t care. It was home.

“Santana that was so nice of you, finding his grandpa!” Britt cheered as she slipped her arm around Santana’s. The dark-haired teen gently pulled her arm away and patted Brittany on the back. “Do you think he’ll grant wishes too?”

“I don’t think it would hurt to ask.” Brittany smiled and slipped over to the two.

“Ah, hello there lass, what’s your name then?”

“I’m Brittany.” She clasped her hands in front of her.

“Am I right in guessing that you dressed up as a mouse tonight?”

“A rat. Because people always think they’re not very smart and that they’re just pests but rats are secretly plotting to take over the world. They’ll do it too. And we’ll have a much more peaceful world because of it.” The man didn’t miss a beat.

“That sounds lovely m’dear.”

“Do you grant wishes?”

“Only if y’ catch me at the end of a rainbow.”

“Oh…” Brittany chewed on her lip as she considered this new information.

“Maybe I can help y’ wit’out magic. What is your heart’s desire?” Brittany looked back at Santana, then back to the leprechauns.

“I don’t think you can. I need someone’s heart changed.”

“That is a hard spell, even under a strong rainbow. Is it love?”

“Yes.”

“Passion?”

“It’s...the grandma of someone I care about very much.”

“Oh, is she upset?” Brittany nodded. “I’ll let y’ in on a little secret. If she’s loved, show her love. If her heart can be changed, it will be. Love is the most powerful thing in the world.” The blonde didn’t smile. Her mind whirled as she tried to figure out how to execute his plan. Santana felt someone behind her. About shoulder height. She turned around with her hand raised, ready to smack whatever boy found it appropriate to grope a random stranger.

“Just what do you think you’re doing!”

“Leave my granson alone!” the old man yelled, moving over and pulling the preteen to his side.

“It was a mistake grandda,” the boy said.

“Oh that was no mistake,” Santana hissed.

“Santana that isn’t a good idea,” Rory warned. Santana leaned forward anyway. The grandfather pulled his boy behind him.

“Your little jolly leprechaun grandson here was trying to cop a feel, and while that leads me to sincerely question the kind of person who is raising him the more important matter is that he needs to know that no one should ever touch a woman without her permission. Now take him and keep him far away from us because if I find him near me or any of my girls again tonight there will be hell to pay.”

“If I had m’ magic tonight I’d put a pox on y’ an’ y’ family!” The two strode away, not even giving Rory a second glance. The boy started to step after them. Santana gave him a push. He turned around.

“That wasn’t fair,” Rory chastised. “The boy din mean any harm.”

“I had no way of knowing that,” she said firmly. “He was behind me and he was touching me. Now he’ll know better than to be so careless. I did him a favor.”

Quinn pushed past them. She’d been looking for the people from earlier, the ones who had taken that thing upstairs. It was all so eerie. She wanted answers. Even if they were strange. This was a strange night. Stranger things had happened. Especially since she joined glee club. The quarterback and the gay kid were close friends. That was weirder than anything that could happen here.

When she found them, they were disappearing upstairs once more. Quinn looked back towards the ballroom, then towards each doorway. There didn’t appear to be anyone in the area. Her nerves had her slowly testing the stairs as she ascended.

“Hey, has anyone seen Quinn?” Finn asked as he passed Kurt, Rachel, Puck, and Mercedes. The four had grouped up to sample some of the treats. Puck was trying to get at the alcohol. The servers weren’t having it.

“Not since we split up,” Rachel told him. “Why?”

“She’s just been acting weird tonight.”

“She’s been acting weird all year,” Kurt informed him.

“But she’d been getting better lately. And she never talked about magic, of all weird things.”

“It’s Halloween,” Mercedes stated simply. “She might just be in the mood.”

“I’m with Finn on this one,” Puck stated. “I know Quinn. She was sneaking around earlier, that means she’s up to something.”

“And you didn’t tell anyone?”

“What could she do here? Think about it. If she sneaks off that’s her own problem, she’ll have to take responsibility for that. If she’s just being weird, no harm for anyone.”

“But she’s really trying to turn herself around,” Rachel said. “She wouldn’t do something that could potentially risk her chances of getting into Harvard.” Puck glanced over the other guests. He didn’t see her familiar blonde hair or the black halo she’d been wearing anywhere in the crowd.

“I don’t see her.”

“She has a halo she can’t be that hard to find.”

“Yeah well maybe she isn’t in here.” Kurt was already moving. He squeezed between the female frenzy his boyfriend was caught up in and dragged the superheroes out.

“Meeting,” he hissed. “Now.” Mercedes followed his lead and moved around the dance floor, collecting everyone she could. She felt bad interrupting Mike. He was absolutely stunning the crowd with his dance moves. “Has anyone seen Quinn?” His words were met with shaking heads. “Girls?”

“She wasn’t in the bathroom, I was just there,” Tina informed him. Finn paced around. “Did something happen?”

“Finn’s worried. And I guess I am too. If anything goes wrong tonight, Mr. Buckland has the power to put a black mark over all of our futures. Now I’m not saying she’d do anything on purpose, but we have to be careful. We should probably check in with her.”

“Has anyone even bothered to text her?” Santana chided. “I really am the only person with a brain here.” She leaned over and stole Puck’s phone from his pocket. Her own was locked safely away with the rest of her stuff in the trunk of her car. In her devil’s dress the only option would have been to keep it in the bodice and, well, with the dancing that was quite out of the question.

“Can we look for her anyway?” Finn asked. “Just in case. Some of the people here are kind of creepy. I just don’t want to find out something bad happened to her.”

“Mr. Buckland’s guests are just a bit eccentric,” Blaine said. “They’re always a bit odd, but they’re not going to harm anyone.”

“Tell that to the leprechaun who tried to fondle me,” Santana mumbled.

“He wasn’t trying anything, it was an accident,” Rory insisted.

“I know the difference between an accident and inappropriate touching. All hot girls do. That boy was not just running coping a feel on accident. Now, if we’re going to be searching for her to make sure no other little leprechauns have gotten it into their heads that we’re somehow easy pickings, we’d better get started. Brittany, let’s check upstairs.”

“You can’t go upstairs!” Blaine protested.

“I’m going too,” Puck said. Some of the other boys started nodding along.

“Well, fine, but I’m going to look around down here.”

“I’ll look with you,” Artie offered. “No offense but, well, since I can’t go upstairs.” Kurt started to volunteer to go with him, but, as had been happening time and again all evening, Sam reached over and clapped his hands down on his classmates’ shoulders and made it all about him.

“There’s a lot of alien superheroes,” he said. “Let’s be a super trio.”

“If she isn’t in the immediate area you’re going to have to look in off limits places,” Finn told them. Blaine shifted uncomfortably.

“Maybe we should ask Mr. Buckland-” he tried.

“And we’ll all get in trouble if she wandered off. No. We’re going to find her. This isn’t a big deal. This is just Quinn we’re talking about.”

“The same girl who set a piano on fire in the middle of the courtyard,” Kurt reminded him. He was just a little bit jaded that his boyfriend’s big beautiful ‘I’m proud to be here’ number had been ruined that way.

“We need to find her.” Blaine glanced around. He was entirely out numbered. Santana was sure she was being assaulted, Finn and Puck seemed to be sure she was about to cause some mischief, and everyone agreed that it would be a bad idea to tell the person who owned this house. He held his hands up.

“Alright, alright, let’s just get started. I think there’s four or five floors to this place, I never really counted, and that doesn’t include the basement if there is one. Good luck guys.” He motioned for Sam and Artie to get moving, but this time he paused to look to Kurt. The older teen waved him off and motioned towards Mercedes. As badly as Kurt wanted to do this with him the last thing he wanted was to be caught up in even more talk about comic books and superheroes. That wouldn’t be actually spending time with Blaine. He’d be a third wheel to their little club.

Blaine just shrugged as he walked away. He had no idea what was going on in his boyfriend’s head.

“There’s some more covert stairs at the end of the hall over there,” Puck told the rest of them.

“You’ve already been snooping around,” Mike said. It wasn’t much of an accusation. Everyone had already anticipated that Puck would be finding some sort of trouble, even if it was just an accident.

“I couldn’t remember where he said the bathroom was. I left as soon as I saw it wasn’t there. I swear it. I already have a record, if I get taken into the police station again they could try me as an adult now and you know they’ll throw the whole book at a kid like me” The other teens fell into a not-so-inconspicuous line behind him.

“We have about fifteen minutes before we’re supposed to be back on stage,” Rachel warned.

“We’ll tell them we had some technical difficulties if we’re a little late.”

“That’s so unprofessional.”

“Yeah, well, he isn’t paying us so we can afford to be a little unprofessional.” Puck motioned them up the stairs as he kept a look out. This sort of thing was familiar territory to him. He split the group into two teams and sent one down one hall and led the others down another. They were going to find Quinn or he wasn’t Noah Puckerman. And he was completely sure he was.


	4. There's a Bad Moon Rising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ****POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNING FOR THIS CHAPTER, this is where things get real****
> 
> Title Song: Bad Moon Rising, by Creedance Clearwater Revival  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUQiUFZ5RDw  
> Mr. Buckland's Version is slower, however, a little more like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9nU8Gqx_eA

Quinn slipped through the third floor halls, deeply glad she’d gone to the local fashionista for shoe advice for tonight. They didn’t pinch and they were absolutely silent. Kurt really had a good eye for these things.

Her black wings rustled as she tried to move through another door. It was such a quiet noise, like a bird taking flight. The problem was that the entire hall was otherwise completely silent. As the gentle noise grated into Quinn’s ears, the sounds of people moving around came down the hall. She had no choice. She pushed her way into the room and pressed herself up against the wall next to the door to silence the wings as quickly as possible.

“I can’t wait,” one young chirpy voice carried through the hall. “I want them to see it now.”

“We have to be careful ladies,” a sagely voice followed. “Not everyone thinks we’re doing the right thing.”

“They’re stupid.”

“Now now, no one is stupid. Just misinformed. We’re going to show them different. And we’re going to make sure those fools think twice before insulting our culture again.” Quinn held her breath.

“Did you see the one that was howling?” a third voice said. “Mindy is absolutely traumatized. It’s not easy being a werewolf and then they have to go and make fun of-”

“Ladies!” Quinn heard Mr. Buckland call from up the hallway. “Please, let me escort you back to the dining hall.”

“Sorry Dear,” the elder-sounding one said. “We wanted to check on our goods. Just in case someone has been poking around.”

“Your goods will be fine. Come along. You know the house rules by now.” The floorboards squeaked as they returned to the winding staircase that went back down to the pre-approved rooms. The blonde waited until the sounds had vanished before bolting from the room and moving down the hall. They had been just up this way. Their goods were exactly what she wanted to see. She wasn’t going to steal anything but she was going to see what they were doing. She needed to. To put her mind at ease.

“Quinn!” called out for her. The girl picked up her pace, peeking into rooms as she ran.

“Quinn what are you doing?” Mercedes said loudly.

“Shh! Mr. Buckland might still be nearby!”

“Quinn?” came from the other side. Two groups of teens converged around her, each having been looped around the same way by the strange layout of the house. Nothing made sense in here, but no one was about to question it.

“Lovely, so we’re all back together again,” Quinn said. “And I have to find something important.”

“We have to perform soon,” Finn stated.

“And by soon he means now,” Rachel said. “We need to be back on in thirty seconds and everyone who isn’t here is out there somewhere on the first floor still looking for you so they can’t even stall for us. Lets _go_.”

“No!” Quinn commanded. “They’re hiding something up here, and they’re going to use it against us.”

“That’s...Quinn that’s insane.” Still, there wasn’t a calm person among them when the wall started to move. Everyone clumped together. Finn, Mike, and Puck stepped forward. Even Kurt put himself in front of the girls though he knew if they were in actual danger he would probably be useless. He wasn’t going to just let some crazy out-of-the-wall popping attacker hurt his best friends without a fight though.

He felt Mercedes’ hand curl over his bicep. He let his hand rest over hers. Someone started to emerge. Rachel let out a little scream. Kurt started to wrap an arm around her when a familiar dark figure stepped out.

“Blaine!” he exclaimed. Artie rolled out from behind them “I. I thought you were staying on the ground floor?”

“We found an elevator,” Artie explained.

“And I pushed him in,” Sam added. “We had to make sure Quinn wasn’t inside. Or using it.”

“You didn’t have to push the buttons,” Blaine grumbled. He went over to stand by Kurt. The sudden change of pace should have made Kurt happy, but with the way Blaine was grumbling he was feeling a bit more like his boyfriend was just using him to make Sam jealous. So he went over to poke at the elevator with Puck instead of offering comfort.

“The elevator is in the _wall_ ,” Quinn told them. “You can’t tell me that isn’t weird.”

“Well, elevators can be hard to make look good in a house that’s supposed to be old fashioned,” Kurt started saying. “It could clash with the theme of the decor. But given his age I can’t imagine he’d want to climb six flights of stairs whenever he needed to get to whatever he keeps in the attic. He’s probably just trying to hide it to make sure it doesn’t ruin the vibe.” Though he also couldn’t imagine ever needing a house this big. Sure three floors, maybe, so there’d be enough extra rooms for dance and music and fashion related things and space for two walk in closets and maybe their own personal performance theater and while that would take up a great deal of space it wouldn’t cover all this. And that was also taking into account living with two or three kids. Because he did want kids someday.

“It’s weird,” Quinn insisted. “All of this is weird. And. I heard them talking about that thing I was talking about earlier. The thing they’re going to use against us. They were really upset about something to do with us. I know it was us because they were talking about Puck’s part in Werewolves of London and how apparently that traumatized one of their friends because he insulted werewolves. They’re crazy, they’re freaks. Real freaks. Not just the weirdos in high school sort. They could be dangerous and I for one want to get out of this mansion alive. I have goals for my life.”

Tina’s eyes trailed away from the crowd. She saw a shadow run along the wall. “Guys,” she said. “Uhm, is there a draft up here?”

“Only the one Quinn is making,” Santana complained. Tina started heading down the hall. “What are you doing?”

“Someone else is up here.”

“Oh no,” Blaine whispered. He chased after her.

“Blaine!” Kurt called, chasing his boyfriend. The rest of the New Directions took off after them.

“We need to face this head on,” Blaine decided. “Apologize and hope we don’t get kicked out.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Rachel whispered.

“It’s our only option. They’ve probably already seen us let alone heard us with how loud we’ve been.” He hurried around the corner. It was empty. Tina didn’t pause. She kept on walking and peeking in every open doorway. “Unless they were being just as bad as we are. Do you think that’s possible?”

“Highly,” Quinn told him. “I’m telling you, these people are weird.”

“Guys!” Tina called, waving them down. “You have to see this!” She ran into a room and spun around. There was a mirror in there. In the reflection she was floating off of the ground. No, hovering with the aide of her wings. She was flying. “Hey hey Mike come here, I want to see what you look like.” Quinn was the next person to appear behind her. The girl was also reflected as hovering off the ground, though her face was paler, cracked, and gray.

“Ew, what is this.”

Tina’s boyfriend followed suit. He started to wrap an arm around his girlfriend to pull her from the room when he saw it. His own reflection. It left the girls completely dumbfounded.

“That is one mirror I would never want to use in a dance studio,” he quipped, trying to make light of what he saw. He took a spin before it, regarding his entire body within. The reflection was what could only be described as a zombie. There were bones showing everywhere but at least there was a lot of flesh still on the body. He wasn’t sure what he would have done if it was just a skeleton that looked back at him. This was gruesome enough.

“We have to go!” Rachel pressed.

“Oh my god,” Finn whistled out. “Kurt you look dead.” Kurt turned from side to side, then he pulled back his lips.

“That’s hot,” Blaine whispered. “Not the dead part, but...wow.” He leaned in a little closer to the reflection. “I wouldn’t mind testing out those fangs.” Kurt felt his cheeks go red.

“Hot and unrealistic,” Kurt commented. “It’s a mirror, I’m a vampire. I shouldn’t show up in it. Though if everything was being realistic then Finn would look normal aside from black lips. Since that’s how it was in the original source material.” Finn held up his hands. In the mirror the threaded lines were very clearly real. His skin was definitely green.

Soon everyone was vying for a moment in the mirror, turning and preening and taking in all the changes, small and large, that it reflected.

“You look so cool,” Sam added. “I don’t look any different.”

“That’s what you get for picking a humanoid superhero,” Blaine laughed as he tried to flex his muscles and catch all of Kurt’s attention. It was so hard for Kurt not to give in to his attempts at a ‘come hither’ look, despite the cowl. So he just mouthed ‘later’ very clearly for Blaine to see.

“This is amazing,” Puck growled as he held his arms up and growled at his own reflection. He looked terrifying and he loved it that way. “I need to find out how he did this.”

“No! We are not bringing this up to Mr. Buckland. We could get in serious trouble for trespassing or something. And I don’t know about you but I really don’t want to go to juvie over a trick mirror.”

“How is this even possible,” Rachel whispered as she brushed her fingers over the glass. She was a freak. A walking fish person with billowing gills on her neck.

“Don’t touch anything!” Blaine scolded. He pulled Sam over to use the cotton cape to brush off the fingerprints.

“Ok, guys, please don’t think that I’m that weird Irish kid, I mean any more than you do,” Rory interrupted, “but...there’s magic at work here.”

“Aw, is Lucky afraid of the wee little fairy people?” Santana cracked at his expense.

“They can be really scary if you upset them!” Brittany came to his defense, and once Britt was on his side Santana had to drop the joke. If she didn’t then she’d be ridiculing her girlfriend too and that just couldn’t happen.

“There’s no such thing as magic,” Kurt scolded, not at all bound by the same confines. “Really you guys. I’m sure there’s a simple explanation. Like the guests at this party are having a very good laugh at our expense right about now. And we’re probably about to get in very deep trouble.”

“Kurt’s right, we need to go, we’re late,” Rachel returned to her earlier mantra. “Very, very, _very_ late. And I think I’m going to be sick if I have to look at us any longer.”

“I’m feeling kind of sick too,” Finn agreed, rubbing her back. “Does the room smell funny to any of you?” Kurt raised his hand. Suddenly his senses were feeling completely overwhelmed by everything.

“It reeks in here. Let’s go.” Blaine started once again to reach for his hand. Kurt’s hand jutted out immediately, hungry for the attention, but it was not to be. As had been happening all night, Sam appeared at Blaine’s side and pulled him away. Running in the dorkiest superhero way he could muster. And Blaine was having too much fun to notice as Kurt’s fingers curled right back up and fell to his side.

“Are you ok?” Mercedes whispered to him.

“I’m fine. I’m just not used to sharing him.” She tried to drape her arm around him but he just shrugged her off. “It’s _fine_. Besides I’ll have him all to myself after the show.”

“At whose house,” Finn complained. Rachel elbowed him hard in the side. “What, it’s a valid question.”

“We’ll figure that out later. If all else fails we both have loud music.” Suddenly the teen felt a pressure on his chest. Like he needed to yawn, but he couldn’t. He took a deep breath but his lungs didn’t seem to want to accept the air at all. So he tried shallower breaths as he passed the pressure off to his extreme discomfort with everything that was going on since this whole adventure had begun. “We need to...To hurry.” He stepped out of the room. The rest of the group was already well down the hall.

He watched as Quinn, Tina, Sugar, and Rory hung back. Then as they turned down a separate hallway. He tried to say something. Words didn’t come out this time. His throat clenched. His head begin to throb. Nausea and dizziness swept over him. That wasn’t the worst part.

His chest felt like someone was carving a knife into it. Right over his heart.

No.

 _In_ his heart. “Blaine!” he managed. The name was strangled. The dark-haired knight vanished around the corner.

“Maybe we should go finish the performance,” Rory whispered to the girls he was following.

“You can leave if you want but there is something going on here and I am going to get to the bottom of it,” Quinn told him.

“There’s dark forces working here,” Tina agreed. Quinn didn’t agree with that statement necessarily but she was glad to have an ally of any sort.

“Definitely,” Rory said, “but maybe we should just leave it alone before it comes after us.” He tripped. Tina caught him. “OW!”

“Did you hurt your ankles?’

“No, my legs they...they’re burning.” He clenched his eyes. Quinn wanted to keep going. This was only holding her back. But she wasn’t heartless. Besides, her back was starting to hurt. It had to have been because of the wings. They were rather heavy.

“Santana are you ok?” Brittany asked quietly as they lingered at the back of the large group of friends.

“No,” the girl confessed as she started to hang back even more. “That mirror. No, this is stupid, let’s-” Brittany took her hand and pulled her away. “

“It’s ok to be scared.”

“I’m not scared. That was just really disgusting. So don’t go telling anyone I’m scared because I’m not, ok? That was the freakiest thing I’ve ever seen and I don’t know whether I should ignore it or just vomit and get it over with. It knew what we were. That...that was no mistake.” Maybe Quinn was right. Somewhat. Maybe there was something more going on here.

“Of course not. It was magic. Halloween is magical.” She hugged Santana. Santana rested her forehead on the blonde’s shoulder. “We all became the things we dressed up as. But the best part about it is that when the sun comes up we’ll be ourselves again.” Santana couldn’t help but laugh. Brittany was so cute.

“Wait, guys,” Blaine said as they arrived at the elevator. “Where is everyone else?” Apparently he was the only one with enough sense to look back.

“They probably took the stairs,” Mike said.

“You mean the ones in the front hall?”

“Or the other stairs,” Puck informed him. “Or the _other_ other stairs. There’s a lot of stairs in this place. Come on, lets get downstairs. They’ll be there. Rachel won’t let them miss it.” The boys crammed into the elevator and hurried back into the ballroom just in time to find Mr. Buckland continuing to stall as he began to sing an eerie ballad rendition of a familiar classic song.

_“I see a bad moon arisin'_   
_I see trouble on the way._   
_I see earthquakes and lightnin'_   
_I see bad times today.”_

Kurt fell against the wall. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. “Finn!” Rachel called as she appeared at his side, her hand curling around his wrist. “Finn-” Kurt pressed his hand to his chest. His heart started beating faster. But that wasn’t the scariest part. Intermittently, his heart would just stop. Like it forgot it needed to be beating at all. He would take the pain of it’s racing over the complete absence of its beats any day.

“Kurt look at me,” his brother called, cupping his chin and tilting his head up. Kurt couldn’t see Finn even though he knew the boy was right in front of him. Kurt tried to reply, but all that could come out was a fearful little whine. “Kurt. Look at me!” His legs gave out.

Despite the ache in her back Mercedes caught him to keep him from falling painfully to the floor. “Does anyone have any candy?” she asked. “Maybe his blood sugar just crashed. I’ve had that happen before. It’s not pretty.”

“He just had a piece of cheesecake,” Rachel informed her, even though she had no idea how blood sugar actually worked anyway. “It can’t be his sugar.” Kurt tried to lift his head up. He could still hear them, and he could half understand them. Now that he was sitting down he was starting to be able to see again. His head tilted up and he tried to focus his eyes on hers. “Kurt,” she gasped, latching onto his shoulders as she noticed his effort. “Can you tell us what’s wrong? Please, what’s going on.”

“My chest,” he whispered. “My heart.” His hand wormed its way up to press against the pounding organ. “It hurts. It...it really hurts.”

“Hurt’s how,” Mercedes pressed.

“Like…a heart attack.” His dad passed through his mind. How his dad must have felt. Like he was dying. Which he basically was. Medicine was just able to save him. But there wasn’t medicine here. “Oh god I am too young to have a heart attack. AGH!” The pain shot out into his limbs. Right to the tips of his fingers and toes. He rolled his head back as tears pooled into his eyes. This was what dying felt like.

“We need to get you to the hospital,” Finn jumped in.

“I can’t. I can’t move.”

“Then I’ll carry you.” Mercedes and Rachel held his arms as Finn turned to pull his smaller but older brother onto his back. “Just hang on.”

Kurt tried to curl his fingers into Finn’s shoulders.

Then he passed out.

_“Don't go around tonight._   
_Well, it's bound to take your life._   
_There's a bad moon on the rise.”_

Artie wished he could stand up now, of all times, just so he could be closer to his friends. The wheelchair kept them at a distance. Not a great one, but great enough for him to feel exposed and in danger. Mr. Buckland turned to them, and the guests in turn parted the way, watching the boys. As he sang his song, a wind seemed to pick up, and with the wind a great pain started shooting through his legs.

That in and of itself was astounding. While his level of paralysis was considered ‘incomplete’ due to him still having some sensations below the waist, he definitely hadn’t been able to feel anything this strong since before the accident. “AGH!” he couldn’t help but scream, curling over and rubbing at his knees through the costume. He could feel his legs bubbling and burning. Out of nowhere. It made. No. Sense.

Sam ran to his aide, only to be distracted as Puck, too, collapsed on the ground, arms curled around his chest as a deep, whiney growl ripped out of his body. “Puck!” Sam called as he crouched beside him.

“Sam we’ve got a problem,” Blaine said as Mike collapsed in his arms. “Mike’s burning up.” He let his palm rest on the teen’s forehead for a moment before pulling away. It was worse than burning. It felt as though Mike’s body was swelling too. Blaine could see his face puffing up, and fast.

Artie pushed himself upright. He had to be strong. Apparently he wasn’t in the worst shape here. He turned to where he could keep an eye on Puck so Sam could help Blaine lay Mike down. “Can someone help us!” Blaine looked desperately to the crowds. Everyone backed away. A few even outright left. “Please something's very wrong with our friends!” Mr. Buckland didn’t even stop singing.

_“I hear hurricanes ablowin'_   
_I know the end is comin' soon._   
_I fear rivers overflowin'_   
_I hear the voice of rage and ruin.”_

“Can you walk?” Tina asked as she pulled Rory’s arm around her shoulder. He seemed shorter somehow. But that was impossible. She had to just be imagining it.

“Yeah, I’m fine. It was just a moment, I’ll be fine.”

“Good,” Sugar stated bluntly as she stumbled on down the hall. “Since you’re fine you should carry me.”

“...Why should I do that?” As soon as he spoke the girl fell over and retched on the carpet.

“Just great, she got food poisoning,” Quinn groaned. “Your legs hurt, she’s sick, and my back is killing me. What about you Tina?”

“Now that you mention it my back hurts really bad too,” she said. “But other than that I feel fine. Who do you want to get?”

“I’ll take the leprechaun.” Quinn wrapped her arm around Rory. Tina walked carefully up to Sugar to pull the girl to her feet. “Come on guys, I guess we’re going back downstairs.” This sucked. She wanted answers. But she also knew they would definitely get caught if Sugar kept this up. With that many people wandering around the house no one would ever know that first spot was them but if Sugar left a trail behind her, well…]

_“Don't go around tonight._   
_Well, it's bound to take your life.”_

Finn shifted Kurt on his back again in an effort to keep him up. Rachel and Mercedes reached over to offer support. “Finn, hold on, this isn’t working,” Rachel said. They’d barely gotten anywhere. This would take far, far too long if something didn’t change. “Are you strong enough to carry him in your arms? Or that other thing...what is it, the ‘fireman’ carry?”

“I don’t know, maybe? He’s not very heavy.” Heavier than Rachel, sure, but she was practically a feather compared to what he bench pressed for football. Though lifting someone in a dance or bench pressing 200 lbs was a far cry from carrying a person down a flight of stairs and out to a car. Because that was his goal. Their car. They were going to nearest hospital at the highest speed their car could manage and the cops could just deal with it.

“Call 9-1-1,” Mercedes pressed on Rachel as she tried to re-situate her best friend’s body for easier lifting.

“It could take too much time for an ambulance to get here,” she replied.

“They can bypass cars. And people have to pull over. And ambulances have equipment to keep him stable while they get him to a hospital. Call them.” Rachel pulled her phone out. Finn let Kurt slide down to the ground. Carefully. Mercedes kept a protective arm securely around him.

Something wasn’t sitting right. Kurt was pale. More than usual. There was no color in his cheeks at all. And Kurt just didn’t look right. He placed his hand flat on his brother’s chest.

“Hello? Yes my friend passed out, he said his heart hurt, we need an ambulance...he’s eighteen.” Finn pulled Kurt away from Mercedes and stretched him out fully on the floor where he’d have enough space.

“What are you doing?” she hissed. Rachel spied the look in his eyes.

“Finn, what’s going on.”

“He’s not breathing.” He leaned over, just as he’d been taught, to listen or see if he could feel anything against his cheek. Nothing. “Kurt’s not breathing.” Finn looked up and raised his voice. “Help! Someone! Anyone! Kurt’s not breathing!” Nothing. “Please someone help us!” Rachel started to stand up to join in. Her throat felt grainy. Pained. Worse than when she had laryngitis. It hurt inside and out. Mercedes was able to get up though.

“BLAINE ANDERSON!” she screamed, knowing that at the very least he would come running. But he couldn’t hear her.

_“There's a bad moon on the rise, alright.”_

Mike’s body was definitely swelling up. All of it. Not just his face like Blaine had thought before. “Sam get me some cold water,” Blaine commanded.

“Will that help?”

“I don’t know! Artie, can you-”

“Already working on it.” Artie yanked out his phone. Then he promptly dropped it as his arm convulsed. “Ugh!”

“Artie!” Puck fell over, curled up into a tight ball. Blaine looked between his three friends. What was happening to them? Why were they all in so much pain? Where were the others? Where was _Kurt_?

“Blaine, Blaine what is going on,” Sam begged for answers as he returned to the scene. Blaine snatched the cup from him before he could drop it.

“We need help. WE NEED HELP!” The people kept backing away. Blaine followed their line of sight back to Puck. They were staying away because of him. “Seriously? He made a mistake, let it go! He didn’t know any better and now he does!” Blaine started to get up and make one of them help when Mike convulsed. His skin turned red. Then he just started getting darker. The boys had never seen or heard of anything like it - weren’t people supposed to get pale when they were sick or injured? Blaine grabbed his shoulders and tried to get him to drink the water. “Hang in there Mike, hang on.”

“Blaine, Blaine Puck he’s…” Sam tried to help their other friend who was writhing on the floor. Howling in pain. Or was he just howling? That wasn’t what had caught Sam’s attention. He pulled Puck’s hand up for Blaine to see. His hands were changing. Fur was actually growing. His fingers were turning to paws. The nails were curling on themselves to transform into murderous claws.

Puck was becoming a monster.

_“Hope you got your things together.”_

Brittany’s smile disappeared. “What’s wrong?” Santana whispered.

“My back hurts.” The blonde reached around and pressed on her lower spine. Santana moved around and rubbed her thumbs along Brittany’s back. “My skin is tingly.”

“Tingly how?”

“...Like someone is pouring sand on me.” Santana massaged more.

“Maybe you’re just tired. We’ve been working really hard tonight.” The door to the room slammed. Santana found her fingers curling into Brittany’s dress. She wasn’t afraid. At least, she was never going to admit to it if she was. “Just the wind.”

“It was magic.”

“It was just the wind.” Santana gave Brittany a pat on the back before turning and pulling on the door. It didn’t budge. So she tried pushing though she was pretty sure it didn’t swing that way . “Brittany can you help me out here? Brittany?” Santana turned. “Britt!” The girl had collapsed to the floor.

“My head!” Her hands cupped over her ears. Santana could feel a fire raging over her own body as she pulled Brittany close against her chest. “My head. Santana.”

“Shh, it’s ok. Ugh this is the worst time for all my things to be in the car.” She reached up to stroke Brittany’s hair. It fell out in her hand. When she tested a chunk it came away easily. But it wasn’t leaving the girl bald. A soft tawny covering remained. It might as well have been black hair for how strongly it stood out against the beach blonde locks.

“You’re so hot.”

“I know.”

“Your skin is on fire.”

“I know, but Britts you need to rest while I figure out what to do.” How she was keeping on a calm face was beyond her, but inside she was panicking. People did not just regrow their hair on a whim like this. That just didn’t happen.

“Santana, your skin is really on fire.” The teen held her hands up. There were flames licking around her nails. She didn’t scream, she didn’t panic. Her eyes narrowed as she tilted her head.

“What is going on here.”

“Magic.” Santana knew that couldn't be it. Maybe someone had spiked the punch, and the food. But her eyes were telling her that she was on fire right now. She didn’t feel high though.

“Must be,” she whispered as she gave in to her girlfriend’s logic, at least until she had a better answer. Brittany wrapped her arms around her. “Britt I’ll hurt you.” The blonde held her hand over one of the flames.

“I don’t feel it at all. It’s your magic. It wouldn’t hurt me unless you wanted it to.”

“Ok, since it’s my magic, how do I turn it off?”

“You don’t know? You’re not a very good devil Santana.”

“I know I’m not. Its because I’ve never done it before. I need your help. You know so much about this so tell me, how do I stop...flaming.”

“Well three things make a fire go. Oxygen, fuel, and heat. Since you’re the fuel and you’re creating the heat and we can’t get rid of you, we have to get rid of the oxygen.” Brittany curled her hands around Santana’s fingers. The flames licked up both of their arms. Brittany curled up in pain.

“Let go of me!”

“It’s not you!” She curled her head down as her stomach lurched and her feet felt like someone was stretching them and her tailbone felt like someone was slicing it open. “Make it stop. Make it stop.”

“I wish I could.” Since the flames were having no effect, Santana pulled the girl she loved close and rested her cheek on top of the soft head of hair. “Is this your magic?”

“I don’t want it. I’ll never be a rat again.” The flames curled around the room, not catching the floor, walls, or ceiling, but wrapping around everything else and tearing it apart. It felt good. As a chair collapsed under its own weight after the fire licked through one of its legs Santana could feel relief from her own pain. And not just because she was seeing the flames. She could feel the flames, deep inside her. The flames were an extension of herself and for all her confusion they made sense as they snuffed out everything in the room that they possibly could.

_“Hope you are quite prepared to die.”_

“BLAINE, SAM, ANYONE!” Mercedes bellowed. Rachel tried, she really did, but she couldn’t talk. Her neck hurt so bad. Her phone crackled, reminding her that she was on the phone.

“I’m-” She paused to cough. “He stopped breathing.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “He’s not breathing...hello? Can you hear me? Mercedes.” Rachel pulled on her friend’s dress and held her phone up. Mercedes wasted no time in yelling into that too.

“We need an ambulance _now_ our friend could be dying! HELLO?” She looked at the phone. The screen was black. So she started pushing buttons. “Rachel your phone is off.”

“It can’t be, it was just on.” Try as they might, they couldn’t get it to come back up.

Finn, in the meantime, was taking matters into his own hands. He pressed his fingers to Kurt’s neck. Coach Beiste had decided it was important for the boys to learn CPR, just in case. But mostly she did it because it made them more well rounded individuals. And it was a good bonding experience to boot.

Seeing Kurt like this banished all of the concerns he’d ever had about putting his mouth against another boy’s. Kurt could die here.

Finn wasn’t going to let that happen.

He tilted his brother’s head back, just as he’d been taught. Then he dove right in - first giving the two breaths then folding his hands right over the sternum. Even though his wrists and shoulders were starting to throb. The more compressions he did the more he lost feeling in his fingertips. He put that aside. Kurt’s life was on the line.

“CPR?” Rachel hissed. Her hand sought out Mercedes’. “Is it really that bad?”

“We need to go get help,” Mercedes said. “Finn how long can you keep that up?”

“As long as I have to,” he sobbed. “Come on Kurt, come on. _Breathe_.” This always worked in the movies. The person always came back. Kurt wasn’t starting to breathe again. “Come on. Please, please Kurt.” His brother was not going to die. Death was not an option.

That was the last straw for Mercedes. She used the wall to try to pull herself to her feet. Her back felt like someone was taking two knives to it - right over her shoulder blades, but she knew she had to push through it. “Rachel, come on, we have to. We have to…” A wave of dizziness brought her down to her knees. That and the wind that swept through the hall. She didn’t have the strength to fight it anymore.

“What’s happening to us,” Rachel cried as she curled up on herself. Her skin was burning like the time when the winter air had dried her hands out so much that the knuckles had cracked open. Only it was her entire body that felt that way.

“Come on Kurt!” Finn screamed.

_“Looks like we're in for nasty weather.”_

“Rory, I need you to stop hunching over I can’t bend down any more than this,” Tina finally demanded as they hobbled on their way.

“No?” he replied. His legs ached so bad it was shooting up through his spine.

“You’re getting smaller.”

“That’s not possible.”

“You’re definitely shrinking,” Quinn informed him. “I can’t keep this up.” She pressed her palm against a wall and tried to take a deep breath. “My back. It feels like someone’s-”

“Pushing two knives into your shoulder blades?” Tina offered.

“Something like that.”

“Mine too.” Sugar was completely silent. At least when it came to words. She couldn’t stop coughing. “I think we’re almost to the stairs. It was right around this corner. I think.”

“You think.”

“I’m trying my best. Do you know where we are?”

“I have no idea.” Tina led them around the corner. Quinn kept dragging her palm against the wall to give herself support. She’d never felt a back pain like this. Not even when she was pregnant - and carrying around a tiny human just on top of her bladder tended to cause severe back pain at times.

Just when it felt like she couldn’t walk any more her fingers caught on something. As she yanked her hand away the floor gave way beneath them.

Everyone screamed as the house dropped them in a shoot and put them on a one-way trip straight to the basement. When they landed, none of them could move. The pain was just too great. Quinn’s hand groped for the nearest person. Tina. Their fingers intertwined as they caught each other’s eyes. She could see the tears rolling down the younger girl’s cheeks. “Shh, it’s going to be ok,” she tried. It was an empty effort. Things weren’t going to be ok. She was sure they weren’t.

Sugar wailed as she rolled around on the floor. Every bone in her body hurt.

“What’s happening to us,” Rory gasped.

The wind around the house sounded like a tornado ready to pick the whole place up and send it off to Kansas. It had to be Kansas - clearly there was no way they heading for ‘the wonderful land’ of Oz.

_“One eye is taken for an eye.”_

Blaine let out a screech as Mike’s swollen body started bursting at the seams. The blood sprayed all around them. All over Blaine. Mike was all he could think about, even as he heard Artie fall from his chair and let out a howl of pain himself. Puck fell silent - maybe he was passing out. At least then he wouldn’t feel his pain. Though perhaps that wasn’t a good thing. Blaine couldn’t think. Mike was exploding before his eyes. Literally exploding. “BLAINE!” Sam howled.

“I don’t know what to do, I don’t...I don’t know what to do.” There was nothing he could do. There was no way to stop this. His head started swimming and his body swaying. “What’s happening. How can this be happening.”

Sam looked between his friends. Puck - now unconscious - was turning into an animal. That was clear enough. Mike was oozing blood on everything. Artie’s skin was turning green and his legs which weren’t supposed to be able to move were spasming, though...there seemed to be more than two legs. But it had to just be the costume flailing as his legs spasmed. That was the only thing that made sense. Blaine had checked out completely.

Sam felt sick. This was insane. Absolutely insane. Why was no one helping them? The blonde brought a fist up above his head before bringing it back down to the ground with all his might.

It shook the ballroom and his hand smashed its way though the floorboards. His eyes grew wide at the sight. Something was happening to him to?

He didn’t have time to process it. A cackling filled his ears. There were voices on the wind. It wasn’t the party guests. It couldn’t be Mr. Buckland since he was still preoccupied with his song. The cackling grew louder, louder, _louder_ until his head throbbed. He turned to try and illicit Blaine’s help once more. Just in time for his new friend to fall over. Unconscious. Everyone was unconscious now. Except him. He tried to climb to his feet. The wind pushed him down. The cackling voices washed over his body. “LEAVE US ALONE!”

Sam tried to fight it. But he was no match, even with his newfound strength.

The wind tore through the house, wiping out the flames that had surrounded Santana and Brittany - the once-blonde girl had long since passed out. Once the cackling winds quenched Santana’s flames, she felt cold, as though she had been thrown into a pool of ice. Her eyes fell shut. It just didn’t make any sense.

In the basement Sugar’s energies were spent and her whimpers had dissipated. All four teens had fallen silent. The winds left none of them be. It cocooned them in terror and pain before it put put them out of their misery and finally allowed them to succumb to the abyss of unconsciousness.

This, apparently, was what Quinn had wanted to discover. This was the price they were paying for not listening to their host.

_“Well, don't go around tonight._   
_Well, it's bound to take your life._   
_There's a bad moon on the rise.”_

Finn could feel the tears cracking the corners of his eyes. He wasn’t going to stop. No matter what chaos was going on around him. If he had to do this all night, he would. Kurt wasn’t allowed to die on him. “Finn,” Mercedes gasped. She pulled Rachel close to her side. The girl was shaking all over. “Finn! We have to go!”

She didn’t want to leave her best friend, but staying here like this was like resigning Kurt to certain death. Clearly their efforts weren’t doing anything. They had to move. They had to go get help, and get away from that laughter.

“He’s going to make it.” Mercedes looked over to him.

The lights went out.

Rachel screamed. It was cut off as the wind blew her over.

The last thing Finn remembered was the look on Kurt’s face. Despite the chaos around them, he looked completely at peace. Finn knew he wouldn’t look like that if he could see how messed up his hair was.

The giant teen collapsed on his brother’s chest.

_“Don't go around tonight,_   
_Well, it's bound to take your life._   
_There's a bad moon on the rise.”_

Mr. Buckland shook his head. “Alright everyone, you should probably leave before they wake up.” As most of his guests shuffled out of the doors, he let out a sigh. “They should have just stayed in the ballroom.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Just because I'm a stickler for accuracy I do need to note this disclaimer: The feelings Kurt calls a 'heart attack' aren't necessarily the actual symptoms of a heart attack.)


	5. Bat County

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song: Bat Country – Avenged Sevenfold  
> Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24howVwYgHY

The hallway was still when Rachel woke. Her skin felt cracked and dry. She rubbed at her aching neck for a moment before getting her bearings. Her hand shot out to shake Mercedes. She didn’t need to. Her friend was already sitting up. “What happened?” she whispered.

“We passed out,” Rachel responded. “Do you remember...wind?”

“And cackling and howling? I remember….Kurt.” She scrambled over to where Finn was, still crumpled over his brother. “Finn, Finn wake up!”

“Finn I swear if you suffocated Kurt I’ll push you off the stage at regionals!” The giant teen stirred, slowly pushing himself up onto his hands. He stared down at the person under him. Mercedes started to work on waking their other friend. “Good. Now we should probably call an ambulance. I’m sure Kurt will need to at least be checked out.”

“Rachel he’s not waking up.” Mercedes caressed his cheek. “Kurt, please, please give us something.” He was so cold. Rachel was a little more drastic. She grabbed his shoulders and started shaking him. Mercedes moved to cradle his head. “You’ll hurt him!”

“Move!” Finn commanded. The girls fell back. He leaned over just as he had before to listen for breathing. He felt nothing. He checked for a pulse.

There was none.

For a moment he felt dizzy. And sick. He checked for breathing again. No. Kurt was completely still. Hands trembling, Finn tucked the smaller teen’s body into his arms and cradled his head against his chest, right next to his heart. As though his heart could beat for both of them. “Finn what are you doing we have to find help we have to get him to a hospital, Finn my cellphone isn’t working please we have to, what are you doing - _Finn_!” He was aware that his girlfriend was talking to him, he was aware that Mercedes was hugging her, trying to calm her down, something he should have been doing, but there was only one thing on his mind.

“Kurt’s dead Rachel,” he whispered.

“No, no he’s not d-dead he can’t be...He’s not.”

“Shh, shh,” Mercedes cooed into her ear. It was all the girl could do to not start sobbing herself. Perhaps it was Rachel’s erratic state that made it so easy to care for her instead of focusing on their best friend.

Finn held Kurt close. His face was so serene. There wasn’t any pain at all. His eyelashes were brushing against his cheeks in a gentle way that seemed to say that he was just sleeping. But there was no heartbeat. “He...he stopped breathing a while ago. Before I started...CPR.” Finn couldn’t place the time. They’d all passed out. He didn’t know what time it was when that happened and he didn’t know what time it was now. “Before we passed out. He’s gone. He’s really...he’s really gone. If I’d just started sooner, if I hadn’t...maybe he wouldn’t be-”

“It’s not your fault, Finn,” Mercedes tried to offer comfort.

“What are we going to do?” Rachel whispered as she clung to her friend. Tears started rolling out of her eyes.

“We should find somewhere nice to put him,” Mercedes said. “Then we should find a working phone. We still need to get a doctor to look at him, tell us what happened. Maybe he had an allergy that no one knew about. Those affect the heart sometimes. And someone needs to go down to the ballroom to tell everyone. At least our friends...Especially Blaine. And we need to figure out who’s going to tell-” She paused so she didn’t choke on the words. “-his dad. But we have to put him somewhere nice first. He can’t just lay on the floor. He’d never want that.”

“Right. Somewhere nice.” Finn pushed himself to his feet. Mercedes hurried over to help him. Kurt was really light. It was strange. Of course Finn knew he could pick his brother up - he’d been carrying him earlier after all - but somehow he felt even lighter than before. Like there wasn’t any weight to him at all. Rachel slipped her fingers between Mercedes’ as they started looking through doors for a bed or a couch or-

“There, that table,” Rachel called. It was intricately carved and situated beautifully underneath a chandelier. Finn followed after her. The room appeared to be a den or a study of some sort. There were books and bottles and what looked like a cauldron for mixing whatever freakish things Mr. Buckland liked to throw in it. The table was bare though. Finn stretched his brother out along it. Mercedes took hold of one of Kurt’s hands.

“His skin is like ice,” she whispered.

“What time is it?” Finn asked. Rachel fumbled for her phone. This time it at least appeared for her.

“8:24,” the girl told him. She started trying to call but there was no connectivity. It was basically a big glowing watch.

“Eight twenty four.” He said the words slowly and with meaning. It was the only time they had. “Does that number seem a little boring to you?” He pressed his hands on the edge of the table to keep from collapsing. Rachel started rifling through the shelves. “What are you doing.”

“I’m looking for something soft or maybe just nice. He should have a pillow.”

“It doesn’t _matter_ Rachel! He’s _dead_!” She froze on the spot. Finn’s voice filled the room even after the words ended. The truth hung over them like a raincloud. Undeniably there. Undeniably unwanted.

“Please, Finn,” Mercedes said. “This is Kurt we’re talking about. Even...even now. He deserves the best. He’s a diva. He’d be so mad at us if he found out we didn’t make sure he at least had a pillow.”

“Fine!” He looked away when the girls jolted at his voice. “I’ve got this covered.” Finn pulled his costume jacket off and rolled it up, tucking the sleeves in for extra cushion. He slipped it underneath his brother’s head. Rachel stepped over into the light. Finn didn’t look up at her. He cradled a hand around Kurt’s cheek. This couldn’t be happening. “He was just fine. He was fine. Completely, perfectly healthy.” There had been nothing wrong with him. They’d even had check-ups recently. Kurt had gotten a completely clean bill of health. Not even his electrolytes or whatever were off balance. But then he’d just curled over and died. Finn curled his other hand around the other cheek. There was nothing to stop the tears from falling. Rachel buried herself in Mercedes’ side once more.

Suddenly, a vicious howl ripped through the house. If filled every corner even though they could tell it wasn’t necessarily nearby. Rachel bolted over to Finn for protection. He wrapped his arm around her waist as he listened carefully for any more sounds. This was not happening. This could not be happening. First Kurt, now there were wolves in the house? Not to mention that wind, that cackling, and all the pain that was still lingering in his joints.

Mercedes shut the door. It was the only protection they had. Then she went right back to her vigil at Kurt’s side, her hands resting gently on the edge of the table. She couldn’t touch him anymore. He was too cold. It broke her heart too much. And yet somehow his cold skin managed to find its way against her hand. So she moved them back again. And yet again she found him touching her. She lifted her hands up off the table.

But Kurt’s cold hand grabbed onto one as she did so.

“Sweet mother Mary mother of Jesus,” the girl whispered as she stepped away from the table. “Guys, guys he’s moving. He’s _moving_.” Kurt’s fingers grasped hers even more tightly as she tried to step away. In her desperation she yanked her hand free. Mercedes felt her muscles in her back clench up tight. Rachel fell to the floor. As Finn reached over to check for a pulse again, Kurt’s eyes opened.

“Finn, you smell like roadkill,” Kurt groaned as he reached up to push his brother’s hand away from his face. His chest felt unusually heavy but there were more important matters to attend to. Like that stench. “What did you fall into!” The teen sat up effortlessly and rubbed his head. It was throbbing. “No, wait...it’s all of you. Did you fall in a dumpster? I didn’t even know Mr. Buckland had dumpsters.”

“How are you moving!” Kurt looked up to Mercedes.

“Oh come on, I know I passed out but that doesn’t mean I died. I just haven’t eaten much today. Not on purpose mind you. I’ve just been so busy I forgot.” Kurt tried to stretch out his arms. It didn’t alleviate the feeling in his chest. “I had the weirdest dream.” His eyes turned to Mercedes. “You really have to teach me that trick.

“Trick?”

“How you got your wings to do that. I don’t know what I’d use it for but I’m sure it’ll come in handy someday.”

“You’re talking about my _wings_ at a time like this?!”

“Time like what? I’m fine.” Kurt held his arms up and shook his shoulders a little. “See? Fine.”

“Finn that wasn’t a funny joke!” Rachel scolded as she pulled herself back to her feet. “I believed you!”

“But he wasn’t breathing!” Finn called back. The giant reached over and grabbed Kurt by his shoulders.

“Finn you _reek_ please stay away from me!” Kurt chided as he waved him off.

“You weren’t breathing. I swear you weren’t breathing.” Kurt took in a very loud and defiant breath. It felt almost unnatural to do so.

“Maybe you made a mistake,” Mercedes said as she started to calm down. Rachel’s words had helped her think it through. Finn had been the only one to check Kurt’s vital signs. He could easily have missed something in his confusion. “We were all freaked out, and then with the wind, those noises, and we don’t know why we passed out-”

“You passed out too?” Kurt interrupted, but Mercedes continued on.

“Maybe there was some sort of gas leak. Maybe we were all just-”

“I’ve had CPR training I _know_ the difference between someone who’s breathing and someone who’s not! See, here.” He pulled Mercedes’ fingers to his wrist. “Feel that little bumping? That’s my pulse.” He pulled on Kurt’s wrist. The other teen just rolled his eyes and let them have their fun. Though it was discomforting that they were searching for his heartbeat when his weird dream was all about his heart. “Where is it.” He tried harder. Then he reached to press two fingers against Kurt’s neck. That still didn’t seem to achieve the desired result. So he pushed Kurt down by his shoulders and started to pry his shirt open.

“Finn!” Kurt yelped, shoving back against his brother. Even when he had a crush on this teen he never particularly wanted to just have his shirt ripped off in a strange place in front of two girls who were also his best friends (one of which was actually dating Finn) after waking up from passing out from unknown causes. And on a very hard, very cold table at that. It was just a bit much.

“I can’t feel your heartbeat Kurt.” Rachel rolled her eyes and reached up for Kurt’s neck. She was completely ready to prove that Finn was just confused. But the smug look on her face vanished in seconds.

“Me either,” she confirmed. Kurt let out a deep groan. This seemed like the start to a very bad porno and he really didn’t want to be the star.

“Oh come on,” Mercedes jabbed as she reached over. Kurt closed his eyes as the two girls prodded at his neck. And while Finn continued his efforts in exposing his chest for everyone to see. There were three layers he had to get through and he definitely didn’t have Blaine’s burgeoning skills. Since there was clearly no stopping them, Kurt just tried to relax, curling and relaxing his fingers to alleviate the stress while he waited for them to satisfy themselves. He kept telling himself he would do similar if someone he cared about had just been, on all accounts in his head, dead. But his discomfort levels were reaching levels that he’d only experienced once before (that being the time his super-bully had kissed him, of course).

“See? I’m fine,” he said prematurely.

“I can’t find it!”

“Me either,” Rachel echoed. “And I know how to check pulses.”

“Since when?”

“I was reading about how some performers keep tabs on their-”

“Nevermind. Kurt would you hold still please?”

“There’s too many people touching me!” he complained. Finn had achieved his goal and had pressed his ear down against Kurt’s heart.

“There’s no heartbeat,” he announced.

“Finn, knock it off,” Rachel scolded as she slapped his shoulder.

“No! Listen for yourself! Kurt your heart isn’t beating!”

“Finn, it has to be.” The teen in question rolled his eyes as Rachel moved over to listen. Mercedes followed soon after.

“It really isn’t,” she whispered. Kurt pushed their heads away so he could sit back up. His head was still pounding but he had more important things to deal with.

“Guys, I’m not buying it. It was a nice joke for a minute and as fun as it is to have so many people so very eager to paw at my chest, it’s time to knock it off. You’re really making me nervous. I had a dream I had a heart attack and given what happened to my dad last year this is extremely cruel so I’d really appreciate if you’d stop now.” Rachel didn’t listen. She dipped her head again. Her hair tickled. “Especially the girls. No, wait, reverse that. Especially my brother. Though I’d appreciate it greatly if you girls would also stop. I’m pretty sure this counts as assault.” And he wasn’t afraid to threaten them with that either if it got them away. He couldn’t handle this. He needed them to stop.

As he scolded them a bit of drool threatened to roll down his chin. He reached up the back of his hand to wipe it away. That was when he noticed the weird bumps pressing up against his lips. His tongue flicked over his teeth. “I thought I took those out…” He tucked his hand in his pocket. And pulled out the fake vampire teeth. “That’s...I need to find a mirror. Right now.”

“You want a mirror at a time like this!” Finn exclaimed. Mercedes went right to work to answer the request without a question. Her friend’s heart wasn’t beating. She was going to try to help him get to the bottom of this. Kurt glanced over his friends.

“I think we all need a mirror. Rachel…” Her makeup had been altered, her hair was sticking out, her ears looked pointy, but there was one thing his eyes went straight to more than any of that. “Rachel what’s on your neck?” The girl reached up to brush her fingers over her own neck. She let out a scream, clasping both her hands down on either side.

“No no no am I bleeding? What if this ruins my voice no no no this can’t be happening!” Finn pulled her hands away to examine it himself.

“They’re like...gills or something,” he offered.

“Gills! I do not have gills!”

“And Kurt doesn’t have a heartbeat.” He scratched at his wrists. Most of his joints were itchy but he had ignored it up until now. His brother was more important than some itchy wrists after all. Mercedes came back over with a tiny hand mirror.

“This will have to do,” she said. Rachel snatched it before Kurt had a chance to. Everyone buried their ears before she screamed again.

“Stop doing that!” They all fell silent at the sound of four heavy feet pounding down the hallway. It sounded too heavy and too fast to be human. Finn didn’t waste any time. He pushed a bookshelf in front of the door. It was easier than he’d anticipated. So he looked around for more things to move. There wasn’t much.

Whatever was out there started to scratch at the door. Kurt put his hand over Rachel’s mouth to keep her quiet this time. The creature snorted, and growled. And snarled. It sounded ferocious. Finn held the bookshelf against the door as the creature tried to get in. Kurt pressed his hand down harder as Rachel whimpered. Mercedes appeared at her other side. She started to try and help Kurt muffle Rachel until they heard the creature itself let out a whine. Then the scratching stopped. Something hit against the walls in the hall - then the creature ran away.

“No more screaming,” Mercedes scolded.

“I promise, no more screaming.” Rachel took a deep breath. Kurt stole the mirror and peered into its glass. “But guys, there’s something out there.”

“We know. Shh.”

There wasn’t a reflection. Luckily everyone else was preoccupied so they didn’t notice and thus couldn’t make a big deal of it. Kurt quickly put the mirror down, trying to push and pull and tug out the fangs. They weren’t coming out. He took a deep breath. This was just a dream. Or something else equally plausible. He just needed to ride it out. He needed to be practical. He needed to be the voice of reason. Which should probably start with making sure everyone could get through the door so they could leave this place as soon as possible. “Mercedes, you should probably put your wings away.”

“What, do you want me to just leave them up here?” She looked over her shoulder. They were stretched out in ways she knew they couldn’t bend. Not to mention they were bigger than before. “Hell to the no. Who broke my wings!” Finn pulled on one. “OW! ...I felt that. I felt that!”

“You feel them, meaning they’re real,” Kurt announced.

“...Kurt, I love you, and because I love you I’m going to need you to lay back down until we get you to a doctor.”

“Not _real_ real. I’m still asleep. And this is all some weird fantasy concocted by my brain.” Logically, if he had passed out and was still passed out then it was very probable that he was being carted off to a hospital right this very second. Just great. “I’m going to make the best of it until I can figure out how to wake up.”

“You’re not asleep,” Finn said. “Because then we all have to be having the same dream. Unless we’re in my head…” He scratched harder at his wrists. Kurt slapped at his hand before leaning away from the stench.

“If I’m a real vampire then you’re a real monster right now, which means if you pop those stitches your hands could fall off. Or something. Depending on which movie you’re from. Or, more likely, we’re all coming down off of some drug someone put in the punch and you actually hurt your wrists which means scratching them will aggravate the injuries.”

“If this is real then you actually just had a heart attack and shouldn’t be able to sit up,” Finn grumbled.

“So you think you being a real Frankenstein monster is more realistic?”

“If I’m a real angel then why don’t I have a halo?” Mercedes asked as she held the mirror up to see over her head. There was nothing floating there. That alone made her more inclined to listen to Kurt’s theory.

“I...have no idea,” was Finn’s counter.

“Maybe real angels don’t have halos,” Rachel offered. “Maybe they just glow sometimes. I mean, I don’t remember ever reading about halos in the torah.”

“And I went to church for nine years and I don’t remember any actual verses talking about halos,” Kurt added.

“...You know you’re right, that’s weird…” Mercedes gazed off thoughtfully for a moment before pulling out her phone. “No service, and no wi-fi. Not even the roaming kind.”

“More proof I’m dreaming. Horror movies do not happen in real life.”

“Who says this is a horror movie?”

“I’m a walking fish!” Rachel snapped. “Of course this is a horror movie.”

“And there’s a monster somewhere past that door,” Kurt said calmly.

“Wait. Wait. If you’re a vampire,” Finn said, stepping away. “That means-”

“Ew. You smell disgusting Finn, like something that’s rotting. Which makes sense since you’re made out of dead people parts. But no, I don’t want your blood. I’m not sure you even have blood.”

“What about mine?” Rachel slipped behind her boyfriend.

“You smell like fish. I suppose that is an acceptable alternative if I had no other choice-Rachel stop that I’m _kidding_.” It was too late. She’d ducked around Finn and was busying herself with rubbing her arms all over him. To make sure she smelled enough like a rotting fish to keep Kurt at bay. “I have no desire to drink your blood, or his blood, or anyone’s blood.”

“What do I smell like?” Mercedes asked, sitting on the table beside him. “What does a real bonafide angel smell like?”

“Pixie dust.”

“Pixie dust?”

“That’s what I’d call it, yes. It’s really sweet, but not like sugar or anything I’ve ever smelled before. It’s kind of comforting. You can stay. Right here.” He scooted around her wing so that he was situated on the edge of the table, right beside her. “You two, stay over there.” His fingers pressed up against his temples.

“You have a headache too?” Rachel asked.

“Yeah. What about you two?”

“Not me,” Mercedes informed them. “Maybe you’re just thirsty. Both of you.”

“If I was thirsty wouldn’t I be desperate to find a human?”

“Depends on what movie you’re from?” Finn offered him.

“You are not as funny as you think you are.”

“If we find a human will you suck their blood?” Rachel whispered.

“No!”

“Are you sure?”

“Pretty sure. I don’t have any desire to do that.”

“Maybe you just aren’t hungry enough yet,” Finn whispered. “We’ll have to find a substitute. And find some water for Rachel. Does anyone know where a full bathroom is?”

“We are not leaving this room!” Mercedes interjected. “There’s something dangerous out there!”

“I’m with Mercedes,” Kurt said. “I’m fine, just a little headache. What about you Rach?”

“I’m doing alright too. Better than we’d be doing out there.”

“And since this is a dream I think it’ll be fine to wait around in here until we wake up. Or until we completely come down from our high, or whatever.” Some of his friends had experienced crazier hallucinations before from just going to the dentist after all. They just needed to rest and let it pass. Actually, the more he thought about it the more that made sense. Clearly they’d been drugged or gassed. The headaches were after effects, the others thinking his heart wasn’t beating was their madness.

Except, when he put his own hand to his chest, he couldn’t feel it either.


End file.
